Tour of the Museum of Traditional Toys of Sardinia.
The Museum of Traditional Toys of Sardinia, located in the small village of Zeppara, the only village in the municipality of Ales (88 km from Cagliari), is housed in a former primary school and occupies six rooms on one floor of a building of about 600 square metres.
The museum houses the permanent collection, over two hundred toys made mainly from natural materials (reeds, wood, rope, cork) or recycled materials (tin, fabric scraps), and offers a rich programme of temporary exhibitions, didactic workshops and related activities.
The museum, which is based on a research project of the secondary schools of Alès, presents toys created both by the pupils themselves and by their parents, using materials from the environment. This collection faithfully recreates toys from all corners of Sardinia, divided by theme. The stands for the exhibits are made of reeds and other natural materials.
The museum displays toy weapons, toy modes of transport, dolls, as well as moving toys, sound toys that make noises and sounds, toys made to celebrate holidays, traps and other leisure items.
The collection of the Museum of Traditional Toys of Sardinia was founded between 1993 and 1996 as a private result of a research project carried out in the public secondary school of Ales and coordinated by Professor Nando Cossu, with the scientific support of the Institute for the History of Folk Traditions of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy and the University of Cagliari. The students, with the assistance of family members, the school principal, teachers and A. T. A. staff, created more than 200 toys that faithfully reproduce the toys of regional traditions and that today make up the Museum’s collection.
Run every day except Monday, 24 and 25 December, 1 January, 1 May
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