The museum has a carnival atmosphere all year round, as it is home to the characters of Villingen’s historic Fasnet, from the proud Narro to the stately Wuescht. Against a general cultural and intellectual-historical backdrop, the attributes and motifs—such as the fox tail and collar, the donkey’s head, and the straw—are explained. Among the department’s special highlights is the extensive collection of Carnival masks (“Schemen”).
At its core, Fastnacht is a festival that precedes Lent: people indulged one last time in all the carnal pleasures that would be forbidden in the days to come. Many of the traditional characters of Swabian-Alemannic Carnival satirize the vice-ridden earthly life with its weaknesses and vanities, including the Villinger Narro, a caricature of a Baroque nobleman.
