Museum in East Tyrol

Immerse yourself in the big world of miniatures

There is hardly a figure that Bernhard Steiner from Dölsach cannot name.

(Bild: Martin Oberbichler)

In Dölsach, the smallest things can be seen in the Sinnron cultural center until February 2025. As a special treat, a special exhibition with surprise egg figurines will awaken childhood memories. The "Krone" took a look at the world of miniatures.

Whether fingernail-sized carvings, mini origami or tiny animals - in the miniature museum in the Sinnron culture house in Dölsach there is only the smallest form. Margarethe Oberdorfer, chairwoman of the Inform Academy, has spent 50 years collecting everything that is small. Now she is exhibiting them: "The pieces come from all over the world." One tin, for example, is from Hong Kong.

Her motto when collecting and putting together the pieces: "The smaller, the better." There are around 3000 exhibits for visitors to see. They are separated into display cases according to theme and material. "The aim was to bring together as many materials as possible that people have used creatively." These include wood, paper and all kinds of things from nature.

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Special exhibition as a very special treat
In addition to the basic exhibition, Oberdorfer also wanted to create a room dedicated to Easter eggs. As time was running out, she had to abandon this idea. By chance, she met her brother Bernhard Steiner, who told him about his collection of surprise egg figurines. "Two days later, the first figurines were already here - to see what they looked like and how they worked," she says.

Steiner collected the series of figures in the surprise eggs from 1980 to 2007. In total, he collected 1860 figures over these years, some of which he can name. It all started with a few surprise eggs that he bought for his children. "Then I liked it. At some point, I asked the children in the village to bring me the hard plastic figures. They then got a few shillings in return." His collection continued to grow.

There is hardly a figurine that Bernhard Steiner from Dölsach cannot name.

(Bild: Martin Oberbichler)

He has been collecting the series of little yellow eggs for 30 years and can now look back on an impressive number of figures.

(Bild: Martin Oberbichler)

Interesting stories about the figurines
It's impressive when Steiner tells stories about individual figurines: "There are different pointed caps on a dwarf, for example. On one it's up, on another it's down. This was done for every 1000th figurine. That's 20 times the value of a normal figurine." The collection, as well as the thousands of miniatures, can be seen daily until the end of February 2025 from Thursday to Monday (2 to 6 pm) in the Sinnron cultural center in Dölsach, directly on the B100.