Reception in Pictures: Sightings from Nuremberg
Germany's toy and game capital, and my adventures there
I’m back in Vancouver once again, after my six-week European sojourn. I promised to share pictures from the German leg of my journey here on A Reception Collection, so now I’m making good on my word!
I’m splitting my sightings from Germany into two posts, because there’s so many of them. Here are some interesting tidbits of ancient Mediterranean reception from my stay in Nuremberg. I came to this city, which is a historical toymaking hub, to visit the German Board Game Archive and do some research for my grad thesis. I also had a wonderful time visiting their toy museum, and wandering the pretty Medieval streets in the downtown core.
A splashy display of horses on wheels from across the last couple centuries, in the Nuremberg Toy Museum. The little horse in the glass case dates back to Byzantine-period Egypt! The animal on wheels is a truly timeless toy, and a common sight in ancient Mediterranean museum galleries. It’s heartwarming to think that kids have been playing with this same toy across many times and cultures.
Tin “antique figures” from the turn of the century, at the toy museum. Note the Heracles/Hercules on the left, and the Janus in the right-hand corner. Something about the warm colours and posing on these figures reminds me of Roman fresco art: I wonder if Pompeii was a source of inspiration for the toymaker.
Astérix and Obélix dolls, also in the Nuremberg Toy Museum. I’m going to have to write a post or two about these indomitable comic-book Gauls and their hilarious adventures one day…
A wooden Roman and some peasants (?), in a downtown Nuremberg toy store.
A Hermes sculpture, on the wall of a medical building.
A treasure trove at the Nuremberg Board Game Archive. Note the Astérix game, and the collection of Iliad- and Odyssey-themed titles. I got to spend the day looking at these games and taking research notes!
Some of my favourite game boxes, from the Nuremberg archive. Look at that artwork! And that typography!
This archival find isn’t making it into my thesis, since it’s just a chess set and not an antiquity-based game. However, I love that the box art depicts a famous ancient vase painting. Achilles and Ajax are playing a game in their downtime during the Trojan War. Their game probably isn’t chess, which was invented in India many centuries after the Bronze Age, but this box still draws a touching through-line from Homeric Greece to now. People have always played games, and we’ve always looked to the past for inspiration, for connectivity, and for fun.
After Nuremberg, my adventures took me to Ravensburg and Berlin, before heading back to Greece for some vacation time. Expect more photos from Germany in the near future…