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The Dollhouse Museum in the Joseph Mohr House, Hintersee
The Dollhouse Museum in the Joseph Mohr House, a fascinating 'world in miniature'
is located in idyllic Hintersee, one of the smallest municipalities in Austria.
The dreams of generations of children have been bought together here, close
to Salzburg, to form an extensive collection. A world of its own composed of
miniature shops, dollhouses, antique teddy bears and wonderful handmade dolls
- many of which were crafted by artists. The museum is not just about toys
however, but much more a museum of the entire experience of childhood. Dollhouses
have never been mere toys. In bourgeois society a dollhouse served as an important
aid in the upbringing of generations of girls. Up to the 19th century dollhouses
were often only for show, but afterwards began to be used in a playful way
to teach girls how a middle class household should be run.
Dollhouses are often fantastic examples of craftsmanship - many dollhouses
are not just toys, but actually 'work' as well. Often, one could actually cook
with the miniature ovens using tiny cooking pots. Appropriate recipes can be
found in special cookbooks. As playful as they may appear, many dollhouses
are not simply works of fantasy, but true-to-detail copies of a real house.
This is one of the most interesting things about the museum. The museum has
40,000 individual exhibits in total. This splendid museum is based upon the
collection of the Kunert family. The collection was opened to the public by
the Ebner family from Gasthof Hintersee. The Joseph Mohr House, dating from
the year 1748 is a fitting location for the dollhouse museum.
 Joseph
Mohr, writer of the text for 'Silent Night, Holy Night' lived and worked as
chaplain in idyllic Hintersee for ten years from 1827-1837 and was heavily
involved in the Joseph Mohr house. Nowadays diverse cultural, artistic and
popular events regularly take place the function rooms. The self-contained
house is an ideal location for all types of productive seminars or private
events. As well as in the three traditional seminar rooms, events can also
be held amongst the exhibits in the museum, underneath the historic timber
beams of the Joseph Mohr House.
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