The Small Wide World

Saturday morning we had booked a visit to the Hallwyl Museum, a museum I have been wanting to visit for the past few times I have been to Stockholm. We booked to do the guided tour, and see the particular Temporary Exhibition called 'The Small Wide World'. 

This was an exhibition of miniatures, the work of contemporary minaturists in an encounter with history. The first miniature was a stunning copy of the Dining Room of the Hallwyl Museum itself. 

I had one of these Lundby houses when I was a little girl. These are the best-selling dollhouses in the world! Mine has been played with by Lucas and Linnea as well, as it still stands just like it was at Mormor and Morfars house.

Today's dollhouses have their roots in so-called art cabinets which were made for princely homes in the 16th and 17th centuries. Through these cabinets, the owner could demonstrate his sense of interior design, and some of these cabinets became quite famous.

During the 18th century, dollhouses became more common among wealthy families and could also function as an educational tool, to teach home economics. 
It was not until 19th century that the dollhouse spread to the world of children. Mass production only took off in the 20th century. 

This is called the Åmell Cabinet, inspired by one of the world's most famous dollhouses, the one belonging to Petronella Oortman, made to order during the second half of the 17th century. That cabinet is today at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

This exhibition mainly showed houses and miniatures built by hand, in addition to the historical examples.
There was for example a Svenskt Tenn-miniature:

We were amazed by all the detailed miniatures! 

So fascinating to see how different objects are made for these miniatures. So much imagination and creativity!