History

There is evidence to suggest the existence of private model villages and miniature parks since before 1900, but it was only in the 1930s to 1950s that the genre became known as public tourist attractions. Early examples include Bekonscot in the UK and Madurodam in Holland.

Since then, many miniature parks have been created across the world, each with their own objectives. They are mainly built for:

  1. Raising money for charity
  2. Education of students
  3. Historical representation in miniature
  4. Conveying tourist information of a country or region
  5. And of course most of them are built just to give a great day out!

If you have memories, photos or video footage of any miniature park, especially before 1960, we would like to hear from you! Bekonscot Model Village in the UK is working with leading heritage architects to develop a book, museum and website on the history of World Miniature Parks. No matter how small or how large the information (or the miniature park and model village!) Tim Dunn from Bekonscot would like to hear from you. You can contact him by emailing themodelvillage [at] yahoo [dot] com.