19Mar2015

8 bizarre museums which take your breath away

Written byRenata Jirasova19 Mar. 2015

1. Sulabh International Museum of Toilets – New Delhi, India

The Indian toilet museum was opened in 2009 in and boasts hundreds of ancient specimens from across the globe including e.g. a French King Louis XIV's toilet which was designed to look like another throne.

2. Museum of Historical Chamber Pots and Toilets – Prague, Czech Republic

The museum was founded in 2003. The private collection displays about 2,000 objects and is the largest of its kind in the world. In this unique museum you can find precious gems from the USA to Australia including e.g. chamber pots made for Napoleon Bonaparte, the Titanic, the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House, the Chinese Emperor Chi-Lung and many others.

3. Meguro Parasitological Museum - Tokyo, Japan

In this bizarre museum you can see e.g. giant tape worms, parasitic turtle heads or educational maps. One of the biggest attraction is the 28-foot-long tapeworm (8,8 metres) taken from the stomach of a Japanese man accompanied by a rope the same length that you can "play with" to get a real "feel" for its dimensions.

4. Museums of Death – Los Angeles, USA

The Museum of Death was originally founded in San Diego in 1995. In 2000, proprietor J. D. Healy moved the museum to the Hollywood in Los Angeles and expanded. Now the museum includes the largest collection of serial murderer artwork, photos of the Manson crime scenes, original photos from the Dahlia Murders, and other such relics of the violent, fatal and macabre. The tour is self-guided. It lasts about 45 min. but if you have a good stomach you can stay longer :-).

5. Currywurst Museum – Berlin, Germany

Germans consumes over 800 million sausages annually so this museum has its foundation. It was opened in 2009 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of this popular German delicacy. It all began in 1949 when Mrs. Herta Heuwer introduced the first curry sausage. She mixed ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and curry and this mixture splashed a grilled sausage. Currently curry sausage is a German national passion.

6. Glore Psychiatric Museum – Saint Joseph, Missouri, USA

The museum displays various devices and techniques used in the history of psychiatry to treat mental illness, including medical equipment, staff uniforms, photographs, artwork and writing created by the patients. One exhibit tells the story of a man who spent 72 years as a patient in the hospital.

Some of the most interesting exhibits are the full-sized models, built by the founder George Glore, of treatment devices from the 16 to 18th century (such as a "Tranquilizer Chair", complete with hood, hand and feet restraints and a built-in portable toilet to accommodate extended sessions).

7. Phallological Museum - Reykjavik, Iceland

It is the world's largest collection of penises and penile parts. The Museum shows 280 specimens from 93 species of animals includes 55 penises taken from whales, 36 from seals and 118 from land mammals, allegedly including Huldufólk (Icelandic elves) and trolls. The highlight is the human penis which the museum obtained in 2011 from one donor. There are 12,000 visitors annually, most of the visitors are women :-).

8. Gopher Hole Museum – Torrington, Canada

The controversial Gopher Hole Museum, opened in 1996 in the village Torrington in Canada (near Calgary), can make someone sicken and someone laugh. The exhibition is composed of about 70 dioramas featuring stuffed gophers (Richardson's ground squirrels), depicting a human behaviour. They play billiards, learn at school or camp at teepee ....