Žaislų rinkinys Lietuvos nacionaliniame muziejuje

Toys represent a field of the ethnic culture that is connected with folk art, technical art and pedagogics. This article presents the collection of wooden toys dating back to the second part of the 19lh century - the middle of the 20th century which is displayed at the National Museum of Lithuania; toys made of bone and straw are also mentioned. The biggest part of this collection comprises of the exhibits of the Ethnographic Museum of Steponas Batoras University. These works are selected from the art and folk fairs of 1925-1935 (children furniture, household goods, agricultural tools, toy wagons, sledges). There are toys from the Lithuanian Academic Society, Gudų (Belarusian) Academic society and Vilnius Art Museums. As the ethnographic expeditions were initiated in 1949 by the Museum, new exhibits from Samogitia (Žemaitija) and Suvalkija were added to the collection of toys. Toys were made by children, parents and grandparents. However, there were also handicraftsmen who used to sell their works at the Craft Fair of St. Casimir. The figures of birds and domestic animals were the most popular. Children especially liked the figures of hobbyhorses (several families in Čekoniškės village in Vilnius region made their living by making these toys). The mechanical toys occupy a special place in the collection; they start moving if somebody touches them or by the force of wind (sawyers, workmen, subject composition- the mill). Wagons, sledges, skis and ice-skates complete the collection