History and culture: The exhibition “New Year and Christmas Toy” in Sergiev Posad

The exhibition "New Year and Christmas toy" in the Art and pedagogical Museum of a Toy (Sergiev Posad, the Moscow region) features more than a quarter of Christmas toys of Russia and Western Europe of the XIX - early XXI century. A collection of Christmas-tree toys of the museum has more than 1,500 items. The earliest of the exhibited toys were made in Germany in the XIX century. Later they became models by which Russian and Soviet toys of the last century were made. German and Russian toys of late XIX - early XX century - rarities of the museum collection.

Of great interest are Soviet Christmas toys of the 1930s. Their widespread distribution began in 1936, when the New Year's celebration has acquired an official character. Since then nationwide starts a mass production of Christmas tree decorations. Geography of toy release is vast: Moscow and the Moscow region, Leningrad, central Russia, the Urals and Siberia, Ukraine and Georgia. Most of the pre-war toys were produced in the farm where the work was manual. These are toys made of cotton, paper, cardboard, wood, sheet metal, glass.

A special place in the collection belongs to the author designs, created by specialists of the Zagorsky Research Institute of Toys. They are widely implemented in mass production and for many years have identified a general nature and style of the Soviet Christmas toy.

The exhibition also presents modern toys of manufacturers and copyrights created in the tradition of folk crafts of Russia.

The exhibition is open until February 1, 2015.