Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Toy Museum was founded in 1986 with the first travelling exhibitions of games and toys, before settling permanently in 1989 in Moirans-en-Montagne. Its collections, originally made up of donations from local manufacturers and artisans, have been enriched by technical objects and tools related to Jurassian production since the 19th century. The museum showcases emblematic pieces of French (Jouef, JEP) and international (Lego, Playmobil), reflecting the industrial and cultural evolution of the toy.

In 2001, the ethnologist Chantal Lombard offered 1,200 toys from 33 countries, while in 2003 the museum acquired 4,000 pieces from the Canet-en-Roussillon Museum, including ancient Sumerian, Greek and Byzantine toys. In 2009, Jean-Pierre Rossie completed the collections with 700 unique toys from the Sahara and Atlas. These contributions, combined with regular donations (Indian toys, archives of local companies), make the museum a world reference, covering 5,000 years of fun history.

The building, built in 1988, adopts a colourful industrial aesthetic (yellow, green, blue) and now houses nearly 20,000 objects. Labelled Musée de France, it combines ethnological heritage, technical history and regional memory, illustrating both Jurassian know-how and international cultural exchanges. Its interest also lies in the preservation of machines and tools related to the traditional manufacture of toys.

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