Category Museums

What are the top toy museums of world?

Museums are treasure troves of history and culture. So how about taking a look at toy museums that can send us on a nostalgic trip down memory lane?

THE NATIONAL FARM TOY MUSEUM – U.S.

An ode to the farming industry, the National Farm Toy Museum in Iowa, U.S., is unique as it celebrates the spirit of farming. The history of agriculture is narrated through thousands of farm toys. The collection includes scale models, replicas, old wood-pressed lithograph farm toys and other toys based on farm equipment.

POLLOCK'S TOY MUSEUM – U.K

This is U.K.'s oldest toy museum. With curios and toys from the past, the Pollock's Toy Museums in central London displays over 20,000 teddy bears, dolls, games, toy theatres and so on. The museum was named after printer Benjamin Pollock. Sadly the museum shut its doors a few days ago with the owners unable to get a fresh contract on the building. Now, they are out with a fundraising appeal.

BRIGHTON TOY AND MODEL MUSEUM – U.K.

With more than 10,000 toys and models, the Brighton Toy And Model Museum in England is a major tourist attraction. Founded in 1991, one of the museum's most prized collections is the model train collection. The large operational model railway layouts and period pieces are exhibits to watch out for.

THE STRONG NATIONAL MUSEUM OF PLAY- U.S.

Be it experiencing the most famous children's television series "Sesame Street' all over again or walking amidst the adventurous world of superheroes or checking out toy artefacts such as paper dolls, yo-yos, wind-up toys or teddy bears, The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, has everything to transport you to the realm of fun and frolic. It started off as a museum showcasing the personal collection of Margaret Woodbury Strong, the museum's founder. Now, it has a range of exhibits such as unique toy heritage items, vintage paper dolls, early LEGO building sets, Barbie dolls, and so on.

SHANKAR'S INTERNATIONAL DOLLS MUSEUM – INDIA

A museum established by noted political cartoonist K. Shankar Pillai, the Shankar's International Dolls Museum features a grand collection of costume dolls. Located in Children's Book Trust building on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi, the museum has a large array of dolls collected from across the world including authentic Indian costume dolls. The Museum's collection of costume dolls was inspired by a gift. In the early fifties, Shankar received a doll as a gift from the Hungarian Ambassador. The doll was to be given away as a competition prize. But Shankar was smitten by the doll and kept it for himself after taking permission from the Ambassador. Over time, he started collecting costume dolls and holding exhibitions. But the constant travel, packing and unpacking significantly damaged the dolls over time which Shankar spoke about during an exhibition in Delhi that was visited by the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi who suggested setting up a permanent museum for the dolls. And thus was born Shankars International Dolls Museum.

ST. PETERSBURG TOY MUSEUM RUSSIA

At St. Petersburg Toy Museum, Russia, toys are not just considered playthings but also works of art. Featuring a grand collection of more than 17,000 items, the museum is home to Russian and foreign games and toys that even date back centuries. The collection includes thematic toys, folk toys, artisanal toys, factory toys, and the most famous toys made in Sergiyev Posad- the matryoshka dolls, among others.

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Which is the largest art museum in the world?

The Louvre, Paris is not only the largest art museum in the world, but it is also the world’s most renowned one. More than 8 million visitors come to Louvre each year. With the French monarch’s art collection and the collections that came in as a result of Napoleon’s Empire, the Louvre Museum opened in 1793. The Louvre Palace was a fortress during the twelfth century and has witnessed a lot of changes and renovations over the centuries. The palace was the residence of King Charles V and Philippe II along with their ever-growing art collections before it was turned into a museum. After the Royal Family moved to Versailles, the building that covers a total area of 160,000 square metres was converted into one of the prominent museums in the world.

The museum’s main entrance is a glass pyramid, which was made in the palace’s main courtyard in 1989. This structure changed the monotony of its exterior. The permanent collection of the museum has nearly 300,000 works of art that are dated before 1948. Of those, only 35,000 are exposed to the public.

Some of the most iconic and famous paintings on display are: The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix, and The Wedding at Cana by Paolo Veronese.

The most important sculptures in Louvre include Venus de Milo, an ancient Greek statue, and Seated Scribe, an ancient Egyptian sculpture.

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Where is the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Memorial located?

Kalam’s memorial, as you might guess, is located in Rameswaram, his native place. He was also buried here in a plot of about 2 acres.

At the entrance of the memorial, you can see a statue of Kalam playing the Veena. There are also two smaller statues of Kalam in sitting and standing positions.

There are four halls which display replicas of rockets and missiles. There are also paintings which show his involvement with the DRDO and ISRO.

The memorial is a blend of Indian and Mughal engineering. The entrance looks like the India Gate and you can spot a Chetptinad style door. The main dome looks like the one on Rashtrapati Bhavan.

This structure is built with material brought in from all over India. It’s the image of a nation coming together. The yellow stones came from near Pakistan. The sand and other items came from different parts. Each stone there has its own story to tell. This is to honour Kalam’s vision of a united India whose diversity he appreciated.

The whole structure has an area of 1,425 sq. metres.

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WHAT IS THE NEWSEUM?

It is an interactive museum of news and journalism situated in Washington DC, the U.S. It is dedicated to the history and evolution of newsgathering. Spread across seven floors with 15 theatres, an interactive newsroom, and two broadcast studios, it is massive.

History on the go

Established in 1997, The Newsuem showcases all forms of news-from the earliest newspapers to today’s digital ones complemented by audio-visuals. Its archive section has 35,000 front pages of newspapers, dating back to about 500 years. The front pages of over 800 newspapers from around the world are displayed daily in the Newseum and also on its website.

The Newseum displays some moving exhibits such as the laptop of Wall Street Journal’s correspondent Daniel Pearl who was killed by terrorists in Pakistan, several sections of the Berlin Wall, and the twisted remains of the broadcast antenna from atop the World Trade Center tower that collapsed on September 11, 2001.

When treatment goes electronic

Telemedicine refers to the remote diagnosis and treatment of patients using modern telecommunication tools such as the Internet, video conferencing, telephone, fax, and so on. Telemedicine enables the sharing of medical information about a patient electronically. The process of information sharing can happen in real-time, or the data can be forwarded and analysed later.

It has proved to be a boon for patients in smaller towns and remote villages where up-to-date medical facilities may not be readily available. Doctors from rural hospitals can electronically share patients’ data pathological, x-ray and ECG reports and clinical findings – with their counterparts from sophisticated urban hospitals and arrive at a proper diagnosis and line of treatment.

In advanced countries, telemedicine, has been used effectively to handle life-threatening emergencies. Indeed, doctors sitting thousands of kilometres away. have moved the arms and fingers of a surgical robot to carry out surgeries.

Telemedicine has already gained wide acceptance in India. Many major hospitals offer telemedicine services to its patients in remote locations.

Small change, huge consequence

At a scientific conference in 1972, Lorenz presented a paper titled Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil Set a Tomado in Texas? He explained that a minuscule change in atmospheric pressure (even as miniscule as a butterfly’s flapping wing) had the potential to bring about an overwhelming unforeseen change in the weather. He opined that long-term prediction of weather was impossible as changes in the initial conditions could result in vastly different weather.

Closer home, the 2008 Kamal Hassan-starrer, Dasavatharam, talks about the butterfly effect and chaos theory-in the film, biotechnologist and business tycoon Govindarajan Ramaswamy explains the concept, stringing together a series of incidents from 12th century in Chidambaram, to the present times, that effectively elucidate the concept

The butterfly effect laid the foundation for chaos theory, a branch of Maths that studies dynamical systems. It revolutionised scientific theory because it overturned the previous belief that an approximate idea about the initial conditions could lead to an approximate outcome.

While the butterfly effect is mainly concerned with weather and environment, it is also applied in Quantum Physics, economy, share markets, and business.

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