Museum of Toys and Automata

Coordinates: 41°36′37″N 1°08′33″E / 41.610275°N 1.142588°E / 41.610275; 1.142588

Museum of Toys and Automata
Museu de Joguets i Autòmats
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Established	2004
Location	23 Plaça Major 25340, Verdú Spain
Website	http://www.mjoguets.com/

The Museum of Toys and Automata (in Catalan language Museu de Joguets i Autòmats) is a toy & automata museum located in Verdú, Lleida, 100 km west of Barcelona. It sets forth a collection of more than a thousand objects in a building with impressive architecture. It is one of the more distinguished museums of its kind.

The exhibition

The museum was open in 2004. Most objects are part of the collection created by Manel Mayoral. It is housed at an old house at the number 23 of the village main square. It is distributed in three floors with a surface of more than 2000 square meters. The collection is formed by fair attractions, bicycles, football tables, tin toys, cars with pedals, posters, scooters, games, automatas...

The exhibition offers a fascinating journey through remembrances, illusions and experiences of the collector. The memory is the subtle thread of this set of objects, and also of the museum.

The building

The building that hosts the Museum is situated at number 23 of the Plaça Major of Verdú, the centre of the town’s social life, and it was formerly an ancestral home popularly known as “Cal Jan”.

Cal Jan was built in the 15th century, as all the other buildings on the same street, and already at that time it was an important house of Verdú. The lintels of the first floor balconies are an example of early 17th century architecture. In fact, there is an inscription on the façade dating from 1695, which is the year the house was reconstructed.

It was used as a home during the mid 20th century and, in 1999, it was decided to start its transformation into a museum.

In order to adapt the building to its new use, there has been a complete rethinking of its distribution, as well as the addition of a neighbouring piece of land. A ramp connecting the four floors has been built. The remodelling has been carried out without architectural barriers, which has resulted into an imposing and spectacular design.

Interesting information: - Total surface: 2,075 m2 - built surface 1,895 m2 - There have been used: 1.000 tons of stone 224 tons of concrete 55 tons of iron 20 km of electric wire 1.000 m of wire pipes 500 m2 of wood 400 m2 of glass

Information

From its inauguration, the Museum has carried out temporary exhibitions, at the same time, from the Museum they offer the rent of twenty temporary exhibitions to themselves for every type of cultural entities and centers of leisure.

Visits guided by the Museum are carried out and for Verdú, has didactic workshops for groups, it rents its equipment to carry out photographic reports and advertisements of television. Also it has a shop of toys and products of the territory.

From its inauguration, the Museum has become a social, cultural and touristic phenomenon on Catalonia and in the Route of the Cister, for the great number of visitors that it receives annually and for the transcendence of the activities carried out.

External links

• Museu de Joguets i Autòmats