The Antalya Toy Museum, established by the Antalya Metropolitan City, exhibits about 1.500 toys from vintage auctions around the globe. The museum shows toys that were produced in the U.S., Germany and Japan immediately after the Industrial Revolution and real handcrafted toys from Anatolia. The museum’s oldest toy comes from the 1800s. Antalya Toy Museum is one of the bet things to do in Antalya for the people of all ages.
In the last four years around 160,000 individuals have been visiting the museum. She said that the museum isn’t just for kids, because adults travel back in time, Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Toy Museum Director Saliha Özdemir İpek stated.
“Although adults and elderly people enjoy visiting our museum, they are also sad to leave. When parents visit the museum, they remember their own childhoods. We receive great feedback regarding the museum,” İpek added.
Stressing that the museum is home to many tourists from all over the world, İpek remarked that individuals from other nations normally are startled to find toys peculiar to their country of origin.
“The toys displayed in the museum are the touchstone of Europe’s toy history. We have toys that you can see in the most prestigious toy museums in Europe. The toys featured in the Antalya Toy Museum are precious and important because they reflect the time and the culture they belong to,” İpek stated.
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The museum also arranges seminars to enhance the imagination of youngsters, along with reading stories and book signing for young people.
“Sometimes it can be hard for children to leave the museum once they step in. Sometimes a father thanks his little son for bringing him to the museum. The father comes to the museum for his son but leaves here with happy thoughts and feelings,” İpek added.
Doğan Eroğlu, one of the tourists to the museum, said he was coming to Antalya for a holiday from Samsun. Eroğlu claimed that he visited most of Turkey’s museums, and said: “I am especially interested in museums dedicated to children. I am 52-years-old, and the toys I see here take me back to my childhood.” Eroğlu visited his family in the museum and told his kids about his childhood toys.
Kayra Kaya, four, and her parents went to the museum and told her she loved toys. She stated that she could see cartoon heroes in the museum attentively and that her dad had brought her here in exchange for eating all her food. Ayşe Eliz Elçin, 6, who had embraced the museum models of the Smurfs, said she wanted to take home all of the toys. Since Elçin wouldn’t leave the museum, it was difficult for her parents to convince her to do so.
Antalya Toy Museum is not the only toy museum in Turkey; the Toy Museum in Gaziantep also fascinates visitors of all ages. The museum exhibits around 600 toys from 1700 to 1990. After two years’ working on the idea alongside poet and collector Sunay Akın, last year Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality established the Museum in a historic three-story building in Gaziantep’s Bey district.
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The museum, which makes a connection between the past and the present, seeks to conserve and maintain the culture of children and to allow them to continue in the future. The museum visit helps children’s mental and physical development in connection with the artefacts.
Antalya Toy Museum Address: Selçuk, Yat Limanı Sok No:112, 07000 Muratpaşa/Antalya, Turkey
Antalya Toy Museum Visiting Hours: 09:30 – 18:30
Antalya Toy Museum Vacation Days: Closed on Mondays