A World of Toys

The National Museum of Cultures of the World is located in a colonial building behind the National Palace which once served as the Royal Mint.  Later, it housed the National Museum where many pre-Hispanic treasures were displayed until the National Museum of Anthropology was opened.  Today it is a rather odd museum.  Most of the items in its collection are replicas of works from civilizations such as ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.

There are frequent special exhibits which are sometimes interesting and sometimes disappointing.  My last visit here was a big disappointment.  The exhibit of "Ancient Treasures of Bulgaria" turned out to be mostly photographs of objects in Bulgarian museums.

A couple weeks ago, I returned to see an exhibit called "Around the World in 150 Toys".  I was prepared to be disappointed again, but instead I found it to be a fairly interesting show.

  

The oldest toy in the exhibit (although it is a replica of the original) is a jaguar figure from pre-Hispanic Oaxaca.  The original is more than 1000 years old.

Notice that the figure has wheels.  It is quite amazing that the pre-Hispanic civilizations of Mexico had wheeled toys, but never applied the wheel to more practical uses.

Many of the toys were dolls, often in traditional costumes from their nations.

From China, a male doll dressed in wedding attire

From Bulgaria a doll dressed in a traditional dance costume 

The well-known nesting Matrioshka dolls of Russia

A doll from the Moravia region of the Czech Republic

A doll from the Ukraine

A drummer boy from India

This doll from Poland portrays a Tatar horseman.  The Tatars from Asia invaded Poland in the 13th century.

A doll from the Seminole tribe of Florida

Kokeshi dolls from Japan

These dolls had their origin among the aboriginal Ainu people of northern Japan

Some of the other toys in the exhibit...

A toy marimba from Guatemala

Doll house furniture from Hungary

A horse from Sweden

A sailboat from Greece

A battery operated tourist bus from China

A puppet from Indonesia

Nutcrackers from Lithuania

Two figures warmly wrapped in fur parkas sit in front of their igloo

This was created by the Inuit people of northern Canada.