The museum website is permanently replenished with new exhibits. Today we present new exhibits in the section "Amusing Automata"* that is unique; it is the only one of its kind in Russia and is recognized by experts as one of the best in the world. All kinds and forms of mechanical toys of the 18th – 20th centuries are presented in our museum.

You can learn more about the collection of automata dolls stored in the museum Collection by watching the video guide "Amusing automata dolls", posted in the museum Video Archive. You will find answers to many questions arising while you are getting acquainted with the curious exhibits created in Paris in the late 19th - early 20th centuries at the studio of Aléxandre Théroude, the Roullet & Decamps firm, at the factory of Gustave Vichy, and at the enterprises of Jean Marie Phalibois and Blaise Bontems. These great artisans of the past centuries created technical and artistic masterpieces, fascinating objects of meticulous detail, dressed in sumptuous costumes made from vintage fabrics and capable of performing dizzyingly complex movements.

On the cover: Musical automaton with three dolls. Germany. Schoenau & Hoffmeister Porzellanfabrik. The 1900-1910s.

*An automaton is a clockwork mechanism mounted in a human, animal, or bird doll that moves to music and performs actions peculiar to its image.