The museum houses around 1,000 dolls spread within 12 chambers categorized by figure, costume and diorama: Indonesia, Asia, Europe, Australia, America, Africa, UK, World figures, religion, celebrities, famous movies, and kid favorite characters. A chamber feature sensory lights for further excitement and guests can interact with some selected dolls via augmented reality (AR).

Dolls can be categorized by era (antique dolls, vintage dolls, modern dolls) or by material (bisque, wood, wax). You will also find themed dolls (celebrity dolls, Alice in Wonderland dolls) as well as dolls sorted by their function (play dolls, collector dolls, utility dolls). Then, there are ways to describe dolls by types such as baby dolls, fashion dolls, or ball-jointed dolls.

Wood dolls are among the oldest with some dating back to the 1500s, though finding any of these made through the 1700s is quite rare. Wax dolls came onto the scene around the end of the 1700s and most you will encounter are truly antique.

Fast forward a century to the invention of celluloid in the 1870s, when dolls made from this revolutionary material replaced the easily breakable porcelain dolls. Those were quickly followed by composition dolls, but vinyl dolls along with those made of hard plastic quickly took over the doll market in the 1900s.

Dolls are part of human culture for 4,000 years now. There are many different types of dolls and some that are exhibited in Bali Doll House are:

• Porcelain doll or Bisque doll is a doll made from bisque porcelain. They were very popular in Europe between 1860 and 1900 because of their matte texture which made them more human-like then other doll of the time. • China doll is a doll made out of glazed porcelain. Mainly manufactured in Germany, between 1840 and 1940, they are now sought as collector’s items. • Action figure are dolls intended for boys. They appeared for the first time in United States in 1964. • Fashion doll is any doll designed to show modern fashion. First were bisque dolls from France but trend of using dolls to sell fashion continues even today. • Puppet is any type of doll that could be animated or manipulated by puppeteer. Some of the puppets are: sock puppet, finger puppet, marionette, rod puppet and shadow puppet. • Ball-jointed doll is a type of doll whose limbs are interconnected with ball and socket joints. They first appeared in late 19th century. • African doll are very different from each other. Some are used in rituals, some as toys, some as charms, and some as gifts during courting. • Corn husk doll is a doll made by Native Americans from dried leaves of a corn cob. It has a body and all limbs but no face. • Rag doll is a children’s toy made from cloth. They are maybe one of the oldest known dolls and are known to all cultures. • Troll doll is a plastic doll with furry hair. It was designed in 1959 by Danish fisherman and woodcutter Thomas Dam. • Teddy bear is a doll made out of fabric in a shape of a bear. They were named after the President of the United States of America Theodore Roosevelt. • Bobblehead is a type of doll made out of papier-mache, ceramic or plastic whose main characteristic is that its head is oversized compared to body and connected to the body with spring or wire.