Breda’s Playmobil Museum relocates 100,000 Figures After Decade at Train Station
Breda, Netherlands - The Playmobil Museum, home to over 100,000 Playmobil figures, is relocating from its ten-year location within Breda station after Dutch Railways found a new tenant for the space. Volunteers are now tasked wiht moving the extensive collection to a new, temporary location within two weeks.
The museum,which began as a three-month Christmas village over a decade ago,evolved into a popular attraction known as the Happy Station,complete with a store and community meeting space. The relocation impacts not only the dedicated volunteers but also visitors, notably those with benefits or disabilities who found the museum to be an critically importent social hub, according to initiator Patric van Boven Kaarsmaker. ”He knew that the moment would come, but that the thump for the volunteers was still huge,” Omroep Brabant reported.
The museum is moving to a vacant garage on the Teteringsedijk, operating under an anti-squat agreement for the next two years. Organizers aim to reopen the shop and museum for the Christmas season on October 1st. Van Boven Kaarsmaker remains optimistic, stating, “It gets even more gorgeous than it was.”
Volunteer Bas van London, 47, acknowledged the emotional toll of the move, saying, “I’m having a hard time with it. It’s a whole part of your life that you throw away.” The collection includes 21 buildings, one of which measured 15 by 6.5 meters and took a month to construct.