In some places it’s Christmas all year round, such as the Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas store in Rothenburg ob der Tauber or the Christmas Museum, which is also located there. Josef Kardinal’s house in Franconia is just such a place. The Nuremberg native has once again claimed the Guinness World Record for the largest snow globe collection in the world. This is what lies behind his passion.
A simple gift as a catalyst
Nuremberg shares the record for the largest Feuerzangenbowle in the world with Munich; however, the Franconian city can lay claim to being home to the largest collection of snow globes. And what place could be more fitting than the home of the world’s most famous Christmas market? This is where Josef Kardinal lives with his wife and his more than 11,000 snow globes.
It all began in 1984 with a small souvenir: Josef received his first snow globe as a gift and placed it on his piano. More such gifts followed and gradually Josef began to buy his own on vacation. Before he knew it, he was the owner of 200 snow globes, whereupon he decided to expand his collection further. By 1999, he had amassed an impressive 4,820 and was awarded the world record for the largest snow globe collection by the German Record Institute for the first time. The first Guinness World Record followed in 2002– by then he had collected over 6,100 snow globes.
Uniqueness in a glass dome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KEorRSUKJU&t=501s
This year, Josef was able to claim the Guinness World Record again. He now owns a proud 11,017 snow globes from all over the world, each one more unique than the last. His 10,000 snow globe is a special edition made especially for the occasion, featuring a picture of Josef and the number 10,000. Another contains a picture of his house. But he has many other special pieces that not only show dreamy landscapes and Christmas scenes in the snow flurries, but also belong to certain fandoms or have special shapes.
For example, he owns a Coca-Cola telephone whose earpiece and mouthpiece are snow globes, or a helicopter in which it is snowing and which is flown by Santa Claus himself. Josef also has snow globes for Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and even one for Taylor Swift for her album “The Torutred Poets Department”. In this one, it’s not snow or glitter that flies around, but written pages when you shake it. His oldest is from 1889 and shows the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Josef solemnly places each new ball on his piano before it joins the others in the collection. After all, this is where it all began when he placed his first snow globe on it. However, Josef no longer has much room for new snow globes in his house. He estimates that the limit will be reached at around 12,000. When asked what fascinates him about the objects, he replies that it is the ideal world depicted in the globes. What’s more, there is little snow in Nuremberg, so he can look at it in his collection instead. In 2016, he made some of his specimens available to the Viadrina Museum for their special exhibition “Winter in Glass: Snow Globes”. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll be able to see Josef’s Kulgen live in the museum again.