Kleinwelka Saurierpark - Move along if you do not like outdated dinosaurs ;)

[Lanthanotus]

1978 an East German statuary began to build dinosaur models from steel and cement in his garden.
Soon this garden and its owner, Franz Gruß gained quite some popularity and more and more people
wanted to see those figures. They were one of a kind in these times and the area they occured -
East Germany was the most western bullwark of the Eastern Bloc.

In 1981 the Saurierpark Kleinwelka opened and somewhen during the 80`s a small set of dinosaur figures
was released. Plastic being made from oil was a precious ressource in Eastern Germany, so the comparably
big figures were made from a very lightweight somewhat drawn down plastic.

When the Wall fell in 1989 the Saurierpark kept on its business, the figures were sold until the middle of
the 90`s. As I heard, figures from before ´89 are stamped "DDR" (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, German
Democratic Republic), while those produced from ´89 onwards are stamped either "SKS" (Saurierpark Kleinwelka
Sachsen) or "Sachsen."

The figures produced were Iguanodon, Anatosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Brachiosaurus (big and small), Diplodocus,
Stegosaurus and a non dinosaur, Deinosuchus. They are of high demand with collectors and it is hard to come
by figures in good condition.

I had two days off and we visited relatives in Leipzig. The Saurierpark is near the Polish border, still 200km from Leipzig
but we deceided to go there and I took my figures with me, leading them home after 30 years if you like....

The following photos show only the "classic" part of the park aswell as Gruß´ private garden which is nowadays a part
of the park. Those of you who know the art of Zdenek Burian and other paleoartists of old will easily recognize most of
the models. Hope you enjoy!

[BrontoScorpio]

What a beautiful story, What a beautiful tour, What beautiful photos, What a beautiful scenery.
Thanks for your effort.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

fantastic

[Jose S.M.]

Lovely photos. I love the first one with the Sauropods by the lake, looks so atmospheric, like a scene from a classic old film.

[Bokisaurus]

Wow, awesome park and retro sculptures!
Those figures are so nice, wish they were easier to find.
It would have been cool if they made more figures , some really awesome ones!
Thanks for sharing 😃

[Libraraptor]

I had the opportunity to go there in July on my way back from Poland.  But we were too exhausted from Krasowice and also in a hurry heading back home. Your story filled my gap,  so thank you very much for sharing!  As to the figures I am very proud to own all of them.  They do have a special charme indeed and feel cheap and bulky at the same time.  And they are monochrome which I really still love!

[Shonisaurus]

@Lanthanotus Nice history and nice vintage dinosaur factory in Saurierpark Kleinwelka, those retro figures are very beautiful and the dinosaur exhibition reminds me of The Crystal Palace in London. If the Kleinwelka figures weren't so rare and logically difficult to find, I would certainly buy them or rather, collect as I would also like to collect other vintage figures such as the dinosaurs from the Marx series.

Thanks for sharing these photos.

[PlesiosaurusNessy]

@Lanthanotus: This is a very interesting trip into the Kleinwelka Saurierpark and I am sure it had been a wonderful day, too!

Fantastic photos and atmosphere, its great to see all dinosaur figures so well photographed!

The story of Kleinwelka is very interesting, too.

And what a great idea, to take the mini Kleinwelka dinosaurs with you for a great day off for them, to have the possibility to visit their big relatives
in the park and great photos again how the little dinosaurs meet with their big friends, that looks super!

I really like this old fashioned style of dinosaur design, Kleinwelka dinosaurs are a bit similar to Invicta dinosaurs in design, especially the Brachiosaur
of Kleinwelka is like a mirror to Invicta Brachiosaur!

I am a great admirer of Kleinwelka and collected them too, now I am housing a little herd of 19 Kleinwelka figures, but I am still missing til today the
Parasaurolophus, the Deinosuchus, the Diplodocus and the big light grey Brachiosaur, as @Libraraptor owns one, you can admire his figure in the
Dinotoyblog Reviews under Kleinwelka/Brachiosaur!

My little herd is consisting of 3 big terracotta coloured Brachiosaurs, 2 dark/anthrazit grey Stegosaurs, 1 dark  brown Anatosaurus, 6 Iguanodon ( 2 khaki yellow,
2 grey-khaki yellow, 1 anthrazit grey, 1 dark grey) and 7 little Brachiosaurs (3 anthrazit grey, 1 dark terracotta, 2 dark brown, 1 lighter grey-brown).

Its quite interesting, that they were produced/released in different colours, the best example is the light grey Brachiosaur of @Libraraptor, my three terracotta
Brachiosaur and the terracotta Brachiosaur of @Lanthanotus!

Perhaps @Libraraptor could be so kind, to show here photos from his big light grey Brachiosaur, the green Deinosuchus and his collection?
That would be fantastic, to have an exact overview over all known Kleinwelka dinosaurs!

I cannot post pictures unfortunately, because I have no technical knowledge and possibility to do that at this point of time, I am very sorry for it!

Will be nice to see Kleinwelka collections of other dino collectors here, as an addition to @Lanthanotus wonderful trip, for further illustration!

What a pity, that these Kleinwelka dinos are so very rare to find, good luck to all, who are interested to go hunting for them....!!!

[Halichoeres]

The temptation to climb these would be strong, but I suppose it's forbidden.

[E.D.G.E. (PainterRex)]

These models are phenomenal! Their details are amazing! I've never seen an inostrancevia, ankylosaur, or tyrannosaur battle made up of old outdated models like this.

[Shonisaurus]

Wouldn't there be a possibility that some company would reissue those retro prehistoric animals? I know this is unlikely but by asking ... I do not lose or win anything. I like the prehistoric animals of Kleinwelka.

[Lanthanotus]

Thanks for all your kind replies.

? @Stolpergeist Thanks for that information. I saw these doors but deemed them maintenance accesses as both dinosaurs are obviously very big and serve as a "gate" to the garden, so safety issues may arise when the cement or steel corrodes over time. The Triceratops is actually accessible, the inner of the belly is decorated with a painted inosaur landscape. Last but not least, there`s not only a Kleinwelka Hippo but also an elephant, camel and others. I once had an image of all the collection, but I can`t find it right now.

@Halichoeres If there`s a country in the world where anything is forbidden, then it`s probably Germany. We got signs, bans and forbiddance whereever you look. That being said,.... while there were small images depicting the forbiddance of climbing on the figures (and throwing your rubbish around) on every of the bigger information signs, there were no additional signs or barriers and not few dinosaurs - the older ones shown here aswell as the newer ones - are placed within a playground or right next to it. Some show some wear and I guess they have a quite relaxed view on this for German standards.

@all If you like, I upload more photos of the newer models, but do not get your hopes too high. The park is very nice for children and has a great variety and number of playgrounds, incorporating the dinosaurs, but the quality of the classic ones easily surpasses the newer models.

[Stegotyranno420]

Awesome and Nostalgic