Friday, July 2, 2010

The Mini-Time Museum of Miniatures

Live in or near Tucson, Arizona? Planning to visit? This museum is a magical place. Collected from all over the world and now in one large, beautiful building, are miniatures. "Doll" houses. Rooms. Villages. Fairylands. Antique and contemporary. What a place! The facility is brand new, sparkling clean, cleverly arranged, and a delight in itself. The first thing you notice when entering the HUGE front doors, is that to the left of the door is a miniature facsimile of the door.

The docent/fee collector was pleasant and informative. I picked up a scavenger hunt and a pencil and started my self-tour. This week's hunt was through some of the miniatures of Europe (it looks like, for the summer at least, that every two weeks the scavenger hunt changes.) It was fun to focus intently on things I would have missed otherwise. However, it's almost too much to take in in one visit. A membership costs only $30 (or it's $7 for adults for one visit, with the option to come back later in the day if you'd like) Since I'd love to come back to focus on a smaller amount of items, the membership certainly fit the bill. The Christmas village -- set into the floor and covered with plexiglass -- would fascinate enough without setting foot anywhere else in the building! And check out all the miniature lighting....I could go on and on.

There are also programs going on. In another week, a miniaturist that works with tiny sea shells will be there, and it sounds like people can try it out themselves. Count me in! It also appears that there's a day camp of some sort for kids.

So, people of Tucson, check this place out. Their magical website is http://www.theminitimemachine.org/ which will give you all the particulars. And the website itself is quite cool, too!

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