Incongruously located next to the heavily-touristed “Golden Lane” in Prague Castle is the Toy and Barbie Museum. It’s apparently the second-largest museum of its kind in the world. I cannot imagine that there is too much competition in that area, but one never knows….
For 60CZK (about US$3), it’s a welcome break from the medieval grandeur of the rest of the palace.
The museum is located in the Old Count’s Chambers, a grand old building. The first floor features some cool vintage toys from back when toys were made of real materials and meant to last.
Displays are quite well-done overall, with many groupings of cheezy characters, witness the stern bunnies below:
Although nearby Golden Lane (which we did not visit) is very crowded with tourists, the Toy Museum wasn’t too bad, with only a handful of people in each room.
The entire second level of the museum is dedicated to all things Barbie, from Barbie #1 (below) to pregnant Barbie (farther below) to a couture Barbie designed by Bob Mackie (yet farther below). As I have little to say about Barbie, I will let the photos do the remainder of the talking:
This quirky museum is worth checking out, even though it has absolutely nothing at all to do with Prague Castle.
Prague index:
- Part 1: Vysehrad
- Part 2: Vysehradsky hrbitov (Vysehrad cemetery)
- Part 3: Karluv Most (Charles Bridge)
- Part 4: Vaclavske namesti (Wenceslas Square)
- Part 5: Letecke Muzeum Kbely (Czech Air Force Museum)
- Part 6: Stare Mesto (Old Town)
- Part 7: Staromestske namesti (Old Town Square)
- Part 8: Prazsky orloj (Astronomical Clock)
- Part 9: Josefov (Jewish Quarter)
- Part 10: Vltava River
- Part 11: St. Nicholas Cathedral (Chram sv. Mikulase)
- Part 12: Wallenstein Palace (Valdstejnsky palac)
- Part 13: Kampa Island
- Part 14: Mala Strana street art
- Part 15: Petrin Hill
- Part 16: Mala Strana
- Part 17: Mala Strana house signs
- Part 18: Strahovský klášter (Strahov Monastery)
- Part 19: Schwarzenberský palác (Schwarzenberg Palace)
- Part 20: Toy Musuem <– You are here
- Part 21: St. Vitus Cathedral gargoyles
- Part 22: St. Vitus Cathedral (exterior)
- Part 23: St. Vitus Cathedral (interior)
- Part 24: Prazky Hrad (Prague Castle), I
- Part 25: Prazky Hrad (Prague Castle), II
Funny. I can see that this would be a welcome break.
It still amazes me that you were able to see so much while you were there. Did you have a local giving you tips about where to go? If not, then I admire your organization. Prague can be overwhelming, but it seems like that didn’t get to you.
The Golden Lane is cute but no biggie. The part of it I’ve enjoyed is walking through the second story of those little houses and seeing the armor collection. All in all, you didn’t miss much at all by not going there.
Hi Jenna,
I was there for 2 weeks, the first week for work (stayed in Vysehrad), the second my wife flew out and we vacationed for 6 days, staying in Mala Strana. Although we had some great advice, particularly on the food front, from my Czech colleagues, I also spent a good deal of time researching places that sounded interesting.
An advantage of being there for 2 weeks was that I could take my time and see many thing the standard tourist loops would pass over. And honestly, although Old Town Square & Prague Castle are definitely great, I enjoyed the less-touristed areas more. If there’s a next time, I’d like to check out the surrounding area more. The only day trip we did was to Konopiste to see Archduke Ferdinand’s castle & armor collection (very cool, but no photos allowed, so I’m not going to blog about it).
Mala Strana is a lovely area to stay. So quiet and feels so old…
I may have mentioned something like this before, but Prague is a city that I think suffers from tourist overload even more than other European capitals. I visited many times from 1996-2000 and think I got to know the city pretty well. Then I went back almost 4 yrs ago and have been a little disheartened by what I saw and still hear all the time– that it’s super crowded with tourists, and that many tourists do things that I would never choose there, like buy those tacky Russian dolls or join in some kind of group dinner with hired Czech dancers. Maybe that’s fun, but the “real” Prague is a gem, and, as you know, it can be discovered with the right eye for what to do.
I cannot imagine how crowded with tourists Prague is during the high season. We were there in early May and even still on a sunny Sat or Sun, it was nearly impossible to walk across Charles Bridge.
More annoying than tourists (afterall, that’s what we were!) are the stores selling junk, as you mentioned, and the restaurants selling overpriced crap. One on Old Town Square had the temerity to charge 70CZK for a 400ml pour of beer – 3 times the normal price, and 100ml short of a normal pour, uggh!
And then there’s the roving bands of sotted British stag parties…. Ah well, the price for being a beautiful medieval city with reasonable prices, I guess!
Mala Strana was wonderful to stay in – peaceful, yet convenient. Vysehrad was actually really nice too – Vysehrad park is beautiful, and there’s a lovely walk along the Vltava from Vysehrad to Narodni Divadlo (National Theater)