Snow globes museums are not very common, and that is why I want to dedicate a post to them. It’s worth a look if you like snow globes. Are you up for it?

Schneekugelmuseum

The most famous of these museums is the Vienna Snow Globe Museum (Schneekugelmuseum). It is part of the Vienna snow globe factory run by the family of Erwy Perzy, who is recognized if not as the author of the first snow globel, then as the person who popularised the models he created and which have survived to the present day. In the post dedicated to inventor of snowballs you can find out more details.

The museum is located in the factory itself, in a 250-year-old building at 87 Schumanngasse in Vienna. In its 50 square meters, you can see everything from the first snow globes created at the beginning of the last century to the most modern creations, and get to know the workshop where Erwy Perzy I used to work. They offer guided tours showing the manufacturing process . The visits are for groups of no more than ten people, last about an hour and must be booked in advance at snowglobe@aon.at It is open from Monday to Thursday, from 9am to 12pm and from 1pm to 3pm.

In this video, Erwy Perzy III shows the biggest snow globe he has ever created. It weighs 31 kilos and its manufacture required 28 liters of water.

Tokyo Snow globes Museum

Located at the Ikejiri Design Institute in Tokyo’s Setagaya district and run by the Japan Snowball Association, a small non-profit organisation. It has a large collection of snow globes and snow domes from Japan and many other countries. And of course with a online shop, where you can find an infinite number of models.

I loved the museum’s interpretation on its website of the air bubbles that, almost inevitably, end up appearing in the snow globes over time.

Snow globe-Angel Ring (*):

This is in stark contrast to our idea that these bubbles are a defect, when in fact they show the inexorable passage of time.

(*) Many thanks to Montse Aragón for her translation from Japanese.

Snow globes workshops

One of its characteristics is the wide range of activities they carry out throughout the country, including initiatives specifically aimed at hospitalised children. In the museum itself organises two-hour workshops, given by certified instructors, where you can create your own snow globe. The visitor receives a simple snow dome model of the kind that is easy to see in personalised photo gift shops. And create his/her own content: drawing, collage, scrapbooing, decoupage…, with surprising results and the satisfaction of having created something from scratch with their own hands.

The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. If you are in Tokyo and you want to participate in an activity, you can contact at: info@snowdome.gr.jp

Museum of the Modern Snow globe

This last reference is, above all, an acknowledgement of the illusion that snowballs awaken in some people. This museum no longer exists. Founded in 2011 in the city of Somerville, by a private collector, its funds gradually grew with donations from other enthusiasts. If you look at the website you will see that most of the objects are tourist souvenirs of the kind found in thousands of cities, which means that the MoMS opted for a definite “kitsch” style under the motto “the cheaper, the better”.

It was specialized in snow domes in which the figure is enclosed in a plastic dome. And most of its pieces alluded to cities around the world. The museum closed its doors in 2014 but it is still possible to peek into it virtually thanks to the Internet Archive project.

If you feel like it …

In this blog you can meet other creators who have used snow globes as creative territory.

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