Over 450,000 delighted visitors in Germany, Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Portugal and Greece have, thus far, been enchanted by a fascinating excursion through five centuries of toy history. Since its premiere in Munich’s “Forum at the Deutsches Museum” October 2004, Europe’s largest toy exhibition has broken all attendance records and triggered an overwhelming media response.

Subsequent to its extensive German tour, the show was presented at the prestigious Music Hall in Aarhus, Denmark, the historic „Fábrica do Ingles” in Silves, Algarve/Portugal, at Lisbon’s “Toyota Box”, at the “Helexpo” in Athens and Thessaloniki. Exhibitions in Zagreb, Sarajevo, Vienna and Budapest are scheduled up to summer 2006.

The two most successful toys in the world – the Barbie Doll and LEGO® bricks – will be presented for the first time together in a large exhibition intended for the entire family. Elaborately mounted and arranged with great attention to detail, the exhibition is an invitation for the “young and not-so-young” to accompany Barbie on an exciting journey through five decades, and to fully experience the development of “Barbie No. 1” from 1959 to contemporary, valuable designer dolls.

In the LEGO area of the exhibition, masterpieces of model-making with thousands of bricks will excite kids and amaze adult visitors – from a Ferrari to New York’s Statue of Liberty and to gigantic construction equipment. The fascinating large-scale exhibit pieces and imaginative settings are based on the famous LEGO bricks, which first appeared on the market in their current form in 1958. Only a year later, in 1959, Ruth Handler, co-founder of the California-based toy manufacturer Mattel, presented a totally new kind of dress-up doll:

BARBIE. Named after Ruth Handler’s daughter Barbara, Barbie was to go from being a toy to a legend: a beloved idol for millions of little girls, a sought-after collector’s item and, not least, an inspiration for fashion designers, filmmakers and pop stars.

Through to the present day, Barbie Dolls and LEGO bricks remain the undisputed super-stars in children’s rooms worldwide. For over three generations now, first self-built LEGO models or the first Barbie under the Christmas tree have and will never be forgotten. With sales of more than $ 3.6 billion, Barbie is the best-selling toy of all times. Statistically, a Barbie Doll is sold somewhere in the world every 3 seconds; and, to date, there are so many LEGO bricks produced that, in terms of figures, each and every one of the 6 billion people on Earth has, theoretically, 52 pieces in their possession. A development that carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen never dreamed of when he founded his manufactory for wooden toys in 1932 and thought up the name LEGO in 1934: a compound from the Danish words “LEg GOdt” – “play good".

No matter in which factory or when - between 1958 and the present - they were made: all LEGO bricks fit with each other. LEGO bricks have consistently held their original form, while the range has been expanded, comprising around 2,800 different elements in many different color and material combinations. Barbie’s development, on the other hand, has seen a great deal of variation through the decades.

Influenced by fashion, music and film, as well as politics and sport, Barbie constantly reflects the spirit of the times and thus embodies the style and attitudes of entire generations:

Her style at the end of the fifties was marked by Elvis and trendy Rock ´n´ Roll, as well as the cool elegance of Parisian “Haute Couture”. Great female idols of the early sixties, such as Jackie Kennedy and Grace Kelly, influenced Barbie’s fashion as did Twiggy, the celebrated photo model, and the hippy movement later on. In the disco era of the seventies Barbie changed her look in keeping with films such as Saturday Night Fever, danced to the anthems of the Bee Gees and the hits of ABBA. She reflected the aerobics and tennis fever of the eighties as well as the glamorous lifestyle of Dallas and Dynasty. The Harley Davidson series propelled Barbie onto the legendary “Route 66” and dolls from the “Dolls of the World” series offered insights into the culture and fashion of foreign countries. Always the epitome of current trends, the Barbie of the nineties embodied a colourful style mix of design and fun sport, combining the fashion of past decades with influences from all over the world. In the meantime Barbie has had over 60 careers which will be on show at the exhibition: from the early days as a nurse or designer to a modern paediatrician, as well as roles representative of the era, such as officer or presidential candidate. The glamorous and extremely valuable collectors’ dolls, including those of the Hollywood designer Bob Mackie, who dresses Barbie in the exclusive outfits of the big film stars, represent a particular highlight of this exhibition.

In our cinema, we will be showing Barbie films such as “Nutcracker”, “ Swan Lake”, “Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus” and “Fairytopia”. We have set up a wonderful playroom for our youngest visitors – of course, complete with loads of Barbies and a generous amount of LEGO bricks.

LEGO is a trademark of LEGO Group. LEGO Group does not sponsor this event.