The Doll Museum in Tihany exhibits almost 500 dolls, all part of a private collection. The exhibition starts off at the early decades of the mass production of porcelain dolls between 1840 and 1920, and we can see the dolls of most of the important German workshops of the time.

Following the end of World War I, most of the workshops were closed as people could not afford to buy their dolls anymore. The buyers of the few remaining workshops were aristocrats or richer citizens who later displayed their dolls in cabinets. The children could only play with the expensive dolls during celebrations, and even then only with the provision of adults.

In the 1930's, cheap, synthetic materials from which today's dolls are made became popular and the production of porcelain dolls ceased.

During the interwar period and after World War II the remaining dolls were put away to the cellars or their owners exchanged them for food. They started reappearing during the 1960-70's in flea markets and these were the times when the owners of the museum, the Filotás family started collecting dolls.

The two floors of the museum have only a few information boards as the arranged scenes of the dolls are very telling about the lifestyle of different periods. The Hungarian costumes and folklore are presented on dolls made in the museum itself. The museum also has a cafe where we can fill up after seeing this extensive collection.