The Frog Museum is in ''Newmünchenstein'', a sub-district of
Münchenstein
Münchenstein (Swiss German: ''Minggestai'') is a municipality in the district of Arlesheim in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland.
Historical records
Münchenstein is first mentioned in 1196 as ''Kekingen''. In 1270, it was mentione ...
, in the
canton of
Basel-Country
Canton of Basel-Landschaft or Basel-Country, informally known as Baselland or Baselbiet (; ; ; ; ), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital city is Liestal. It is traditional ...
in
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
. It is dedicated to
frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...
s.
History
The Frog Museum was privately founded in
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
in 1989 by Elfi and Rolf Rindlisbacher with about 3200 exhibits. However, the couple had been collecting since 1981, with newspaper articles about their collection, already at 500 items, published in 1982.
The museum displays frog figurines made of a variety of materials, including wood, porcelain, glass, ceramic, brass, and chocolate. The frog memorabilia displayed also includes a large variety of objects, including jugs, lamps, jewellery, key rings, mugs, ornaments, telephones, radios, among others.
In 1992 the museum moved from Basel to Münchenstein with 5000 frog objects and installed a modern and larger museum (100 m²) in the building of the ''Handwerkstadt'', a commercial centre for craft works. In 1993 the collection had grown so big that it was rewarded with an inclusion in
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...
. Since then, the record has been claimed by a British woman, named Sheila Crown, who gained the record in 2002. In 1994 the museum was enlarged again (150 m²).
By 2007, there had been over 24,000 visitors to the museum.
In 2009 and 2010, there was significant water damage to the museum. No frogs were damaged, but shelves and exhibit cases had to be removed and replaced.
The Frog Museum now has more than 15,000 exhibits of different shapes, sizes, and materials.
See also
*
List of museums in Switzerland
This is a list of museums in Switzerland, sorted by canton and city / municipality. Included are Swiss natural history museums, science museums, transport museums, railway museums, military museums, art museums and ethnographic museums, among ...
References
External links
Froschmuseum Münchenstein
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frog Museum (Munchenstein)
Münchenstein
Museums in Basel-Landschaft