We love small, local museums and go to them whenever we can but I have to say the Miniature Museum in Tucson really stands out in that category. The experience starts right when you approach the entrance, with architectural elements that suggest you are getting smaller and smaller as you walk towards the doors. The door is massive, and the entire door can be opened if you have the strength to do it. Luckily, there’s a “regular” size door cut into it, so you can just open that smaller door if you’re not strong enough to open the big boy door. Super cool and the best entrance to any museum I have ever seen.
When you walk inside there is a nice service desk with a small gift shop and then you can go in multiple directions. We took tons of pictures (the best ones are Lee) but it would be impossible to truly show everything we saw. I will try and give you a flavor of the experience though and this is a must see if you are ever in Tucson so you can experience it for yourself. Frankly we both were worried it might be boring but it was the opposite of that!
My favorite room had a giant tree that had small vignettes in glass in its roots. It was also grouped by season with a large halloween section and an even larger Christmas section. Don’t forget to look at the trees face as you walk around because it changes with each season. VERY well done.
Along with the seasonal groupings they also had entire collections of miniatures including tiny dolls, Kewpies, and my favorite the Pocket Dragons. These collections were all grouped together in really cool ways and behind glass so they were protected. Most of the museum is behind glass so taking pictures was a little challenging for me, but Lee is really great at that and got some good shots.
Everywhere you looked there were tons of different kinds of miniatures including some examples from around the world. My big takeaway was miniatures are universal.
Throughout the exhibits they talked about the different artists who made the vignettes and we learned that there are specialists in different types of miniatures. Some people make mini dinner plates, pottery, glasswork etc. Makes sense as there are craftsmen who specialize in the large version of these items and I can tell you from my experience in trying pottery in the miniature it is not easier than the large version. The best examples of these different mediums were in the huge houses we saw and the detail was incredible. Again this is just a little taste. There was so much more than this to see. Couldn’t capture it all.
Along with the houses there were tiny shops, some that were reproductions of actual places. The level of detail in the goods on the shelves was extraordinary.
My favorites though of the entire museum were little vignettes inside something else. There were teapots, a walnut, a sewing machine and best of all a gorgeous violin that had a violin shop on the inside.
Probably the most impressive examples were carvings on the top of a pencil. So very tiny.
Finally they had a special exhibit of miniatures from movies and we saw some models from Beetlejuice. We also got to sit on the couch from Beetlejuice (fun but super hard) which was really great and capped off a lovely visit.
Total bargain for $15 and again its a don’t miss for me. Next up we get back to nature a bit as I have been missing green in all this desert.
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