There’s just something about human beings that makes us indetachable from our past; having said that, it is oh so easy to find grown adults displaying exhibits celebrating childhood. These exhibits are not necessarily always low-profile ones – just look at the Legoland or Disneyland franchises.Some people believe that associating a theme to childhood toys gives it more meaning. Brothers Frederick and Gerrit Braun certainly understand this; their museum Miniatur Wunderland is visited by large numbers of tourists every year. These guys have been fans of model railroads since childhood; and they took their hobby further by creating the lucrative children’s museum.It all started in the run-up to the German elections on September 27. German political parties pictured the scene of election campaigns and they had it represented in the miniature toy town of the Braun brothers. It is incredibly realistic – not just people and buildings that are clearly public ones but also statues and adverts and even charity event scenes and a band. Note also the demonstration scenes with banners saying “Stop Privatisation!” and “No more Nazis!”
So they make it truly authentically “German”, even including a famous German monument. But even besides that, the creators take further steps to attract visitors and their appeal: see this with the little rivers that use real water (with the little people swimming in them and all); and that boarded-up building helps to emit a proper sense of “community”. I was also fond of the idea of that solar panel covering the roof of one of the buildings; and that see-through building; and that parade. There is a separate exhibit where they accumulate loads of little black, red and yellow people to create a giant German flag image from a distance; it includes loads of white people that spell the word “Wir” (“We” / “Us” in English).