Karbonkel puppet to remain on permanent display at Dutch media museum

Karbonkel, the monster puppet from Dutch children’s programme *Ik Mik Loreland*, will remain on permanent display at media museum Beeld & Geluid after attracting large crowds to a temporary exhibition.

More than 25,000 people visited the museum in the past four weeks, making it the busiest month since it reopened in February 2023, Nieuws.nl reported. A museum spokesperson attributed much of the increase to the Karbonkel Experience, a small exhibition featuring the recently restored puppet.

“We have had so many lovely reactions from visitors,” museum manager Arjen Pas said. Many described meeting Karbonkel as a healing experience, he said, because they could finally face the character that had frightened them as children. The museum was pleased to be able to show the puppet permanently, he added.

The programme aired in the 1990s to help children learn to read. But Karbonkel’s threats to “tease, obstruct and hinder” its main character, Mik, gave many young viewers nightmares, according to Nieuws.nl. Episodes of the series have also recently become available in Beeld & Geluid’s online archive.