The world’s strangest museums

Jun 30, 2011 6:57:09 AM

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What happens when obsessions become collections? In this excerpt from Lonely Planet’s 1000 Ultimate Experiences, we explore 10 of the more eccentric arrays to make it behind the glass.

1. Paris Sewer Museum, France

Prepare yourself: the ‘galleries’ of the Musée des Egouts de Paris are actually disused sections of Paris‘ sewerage system (fans of Hugo’s Les Misérables will know what to expect). The smell is unbelievable and let that be a warning – you can’t completely eradicate over 100 years of crap. Exhibits include photographs, maps and stuffed sewer rats. As a bonus, you can actually walk around on walkways a few metres above flowing, flushing waste from the stinky Parisians above ground. There’s a souvenir shop, too, that sells…ah…

It’s open Saturday to Wednesday; Paris Museum pass holders get in for free.

2. Meguro Parasitological Museum, Japan

Truly, this really takes the cake – coloured beakers and test tubes lines the walls, each containing a different human or animal parasite. Yes, that’s right: tapeworms, hookworms, larvae. Plus detailed anatomical maps showing the life cycles of parasites in the abdomen and nether regions, and gruesome medical photos showing the real-life consequences of infection. If that doesn’t satisfy, the souvenir shop can sell you parasite-themed T-shirts and key rings. This Tokyo museum’s publicity claims it’s the perfect place for lovers on a date – if you’re dating David Cronenberg, perhaps.

Admission is free but donations are gratefully accepted. The nearest train station is Meguro; take the west exit and walk about 15 minutes.

3. Icelandic Phallogical Museum, Iceland

You’ll be cock-a-hoop after visiting this place, with its collection of phalluses from animals and humans; the museum claims that ‘phallology is an ancient science’, something that a chap like John Holmes would certainly agree with. From the outside this museum in Husavik is dainty and old-fashioned, but inside is a world beyond belief, with over 150 penises and penile parts of all sizes mounted, stuck and glued to the walls, hanging from the ceiling, and illuminated in glaring light. Be careful: some of these could have your eye out. Needless to say, no touching is allowed.

This museum is only open Tuesday and Saturday; entry is ISK400.

4. Grutas Park Druskininkai, Lithuania

Also known as ‘Stalin World’, Grutas Park in Druskininkai is a blackly humorous, deeply ironic museum-cum-theme park dedicated to the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, featuring a sculpture garden with statues of former Soviet identities, plus recreations of Gulags including electrified fencing and wooden guard towers. There were plans to herd visitors in via a cattle truck on a railway track, but this was defeated after fierce public disapproval. There are occasional reenactments in which, according to the Guardian, ‘Soviet pioneers sing paeans to the dignity of work; Stalin waves his pipe and delivers tedious speeches; and Lenin sits on a bank fishing’.

Entry is LTL20 but the audio guide is worth the extra LTL46. Visit www.grutoparkas.lt for information, including how to get there.

5. Museum of Bad Art, USA

With the motto, ‘Art too bad to be ignored’, this Massachusetts museum holds a collection of over 250 pieces, including paintings and sculptures with grossly misaligned perspectives, bodies with arms that look more like thighs, and the most garish colours this side of Ken Done. As the museum promises, this is truly ‘exuberant art by people who sometimes don’t have a clue what they’re doing’. Some of this stuff has been donated, some of it has been fished out of garbage cans, but all of it stinks to high heaven. Find it below the Dedham Community Theatre, 8 miles south of Boston.

It’s open until 9pm or 10pm; for more information and a free newsletter see www.museumofbadart.org.

6. Hair Museum, Turkey

Galip Körükçü is a Turkish potter who decided to collect as much hair as he could from women all over the world and open a hair museum. The idea was to raise awareness for his ceramics course by dreaming up the most hair-brained scheme imaginable so that people would remember his name. Housed in a cave in Avanos and featuring over 16,000 samples of women’s hair hanging from the walls and roof, this hair lair resembles a serial killer’s den more than anything, especially when Mr Körükçü puts on his apron and gets his scissors out (predictably, he has a full head of hair).

Stay at Calip’s guesthouse. Also book in for ceramics, weaving, dance and music classes; see www.chez-galip.com.

7. International Towing Hall of Fame & Museum, USA

Towing is a serious business indeed. This museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is proof, too, with its mission statement to ‘preserve the history of the towing and recovery industry, to educate the children of the world, and all of society, about said industry, and to honor those individuals who have made significant changes, and have dedicated precious time throughout our industry’. Anyone’d think there was a war on or something. Come and see all the trucks and tow bars you can handle.

Pay your respects at the Wall of the Fallen, commemorating those involved in towing-related fatalities. See www.internationaltowingmuseum.org.

8. British Lawnmower Museum, England

Some say the quality of Qualcast hand mowers will never be matched by another unpowered mower, let alone any of the fancy powered ones; others swear blind by the Allen Scythe TS with its smooth Villiers Mk25 four-stroke 256cc engine; and then there are those who can only get off on the sight of a mighty Dennis 1-2633 Bradbury four-stroke 500cc mower in full fl ight. Rub shoulders with all these enthusiasts at the British Lawnmower Museum in Southport, Lancashire, where the exhibits include Lawnmowers of the Rich and Famous (including Prince Charles’), the Fastest Mowers in the World and the world’s first solar-powered robot mower.

The museum is open 9am–5.30pm year round. The entry fee includes a free audio tour; visit www.lawnmowerworld .co.uk for more grass-cutting fun.

9. Sulabh International Museum of Toilets, India

Commodes, the john, the throne, dunnies, the porcelain bus… it’s all here and more, with numerous exhibits detailing toilet design all over the world, from squat-and-poop styles to more regal gold-plated numbers. ‘Join the sanitation crusade’, this New Delhi museum exhorts. See if you could hold on while attempting to follow the numerous steps required in the ‘code for married people: an elaborate drill for defecation prescribed in the most respected Aryan scripture Manusmriti Vishnupuran’. Remember to wash your hands afterwards.

It’s based in Dabri Marg, New Delhi, and open Monday to Saturday. Go to www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org for all the details you need to find the loo collection.

10. Museum of Crutches, Azerbaijan

The renowned health resort town of Naphthalan is known for its healing qualities – oil extracted from the land is supposed to cure all manner of ills. Accordingly, Naphthalan boasts the world’s only museum devoted to old crutches. All were supposedly left behind by sick people who came here and were suddenly cured, Monty Python–style, therefore requiring their aids no longer. Take the test: break your leg before visiting, bathe in the oil, and then see what happens.

From Gorenby city take bus 4AZN to the end of the line; this is Naphthalan. Any local should be able to point you to the museum.

Have you been to any wacky museums? Share it below!

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Comments

9 August 2010 4:36PM webgeekstress Report this comment
There's also the Butter Museum (Muzeum másla) in Máslovice (http://www.maslovice.cz/web/cs/titulni; Czech only website) in the Czech Republic. If you go in December or January, you can see a nativity scene carved out of butter; in the Spring, they host a Butter Festival. I blogged about my visit here: http://blog.webgeekstress.com/2008/01/butter-museum-at-m.html
9 August 2010 5:31PM nslv Report this comment
How about the "World War II" museum in Kanchanaburi, Thailand (site of the "Bridge on the River Kwai." The museum has absolutely nothing to do with the war except for the many fake bomb casings that line the premesis, all labeled "A-Bomb." There were murals depicting "the way of life of prehistoric man" (which apparently involved groping) and wacky "Thai proverbs" that wouldn't be fit for a family website! Photos here:
http://www.aaronswwadventures.com/2006/10/bridge-on-the-river-kwai/
9 August 2010 6:17PM remelila Report this comment
I have to add a personal favourite here: the Mutter Museum of Medical Oddities, found at the College of Physicians in downtown Philadelphia (USA). Check out the website here: http://www.collphyphil.org/MUTTER.ASP.
9 August 2010 7:12PM ne_quine Report this comment
The weirdest one I have ever been to is The Barbed Wire museum in McLean, Texas which we had the delight of visiting when doing Route 66 a few years ago.
The best part of it was the beautiful aircon given the stiffling temps outside!
http://www.barbwiremuseum.com/index.htm
10 August 2010 9:14AM thmeeks Report this comment
Here in Las Vegas we have the Erotic Heritage Museum ( http://www.eroticheritage.org/ ), which is really appropriate for our city, but certainly very unusual.
10 August 2010 8:48PM lauraamescarder Report this comment
The Sex Museum in Amsterdam?
10 August 2010 9:54PM makucharek Report this comment
The catacombs in Palermo, Sicily. Thousands of mummified dead people hanging off the wall, which is bad enough - but then to have family scenes re-enacted (children playing, father reading book in favourite chair, etc.) using the actual corpses?? Pretty sick advance a waxworks museum, which frankly I find creepy as hell. It's ripe for a Stephen King novel.
11 August 2010 2:43PM smisty Report this comment
How about the American Sanitary and Plumbing Museum in Watertown, MA? I'm surprised it didn't make the cut.
23 August 2010 6:16PM vsofras2 Report this comment
My friend, I think that you are making a slight mistake here. Under 'Icelandic Phallogical Museum, Iceland' (number 3 from above), you correctly place the museum in Husavik, Iceland. However, at the end you call it a 'Reykjavík museum' which is completely incorrect. Husavik is located in the upper part of the country and very far away from the capital Reykjavik. In order to get to Husavik last summer (for whale watching) we took a bus from Reykjavik and it took us six hours to get there.. By the way, we saw the building of the museum but we chose to spend our money on a 3-hour whale watching trip.
23 August 2010 9:36PM livinginfiji Report this comment
Okay, you really should include the Salami and Paprika Museum in Szeged, Hungary! Its a small museum where you can see your "how it's made": Salami! After you've seen pictures of half pigs and slices pork being processed, its only a question if your stomach is strong enough to taste a slice of salami afterwards! The paprika-part... I think they had some space left and needed to fill it up with something....!
23 August 2010 10:18PM eswappy Report this comment
Really not to miss when you're in Thailand: the Buddha Park in Nong Khai, Sala Keoku (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sala_Keoku). Laos has a park that's pretty much the same, but smaller, Xieng Khuan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha_Park).
In Amsterdam we also have some interesting museums, like the hasj / marijuana / hemp museum (http://hashmuseum.com/) and the, already mentioned, sex museum (http://www.sexmuseumamsterdam.nl/index2.html)
23 August 2010 10:53PM thero Report this comment
I put up with walking right through the St Petersburg Museum of Hygiene just to see the taxidermified Pavlov's Dog, but unfortunately it was out for restoration!!!! Damn!!! Segovia has an interesting Museo de Brujeria (witchcraft), which has exhibits based on historical perspectives and some just to amuse visitors.
24 August 2010 12:02AM jeroen Report this comment
Near Gallivare in Sweden there's the delightful mosquito museum.
24 August 2010 12:12AM beritk Report this comment
How about the mummy museum in Guanajato, Mexico? They had to move the cemetary and thanks to the high altidude and the dry climate the corpses were mummified. The exhibition shows the mummies more or less how they were found when the coffins were opened, and one woman had turned around in it, trying to stem it open! In front of the museum, there'a vendor selling sweets in the colour and shape (though not the size) of the mummies...
24 August 2010 12:14AM silentdan Report this comment
have a look at the penis museum. i was working there , 2 days for siggi the owner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NliahGn4VFg
have fun. the non-profit whale museum around the corner is way more spectacular!
http://whalemuseum.is/home/
24 August 2010 1:26AM mj42 Report this comment
The Museum of Mechanical Calculators in Schaan, Liechtenstein - it's so incredibly popular that it's only open by appointment. After enquiring at the tourist office in Schaan I duly managed to get myself an appointment - unsurprisingly, I was the only one there so I had a personal guided tour and they didn't even charge for it, how lovely.
24 August 2010 7:18AM siroccosky Report this comment
There are a couple missing here I think:
The pineapple museum in Okinawa Japan - ride in a pineapple shaped car past pineapple plants. Especially fun is the fact that the car goes so slowly, you can jump out and take photos of yourself being chased by a giant pineapple. You get told off for that though. Then you can have purricura taken in which you become a pineapple before you learn about pineapple wine and biscuits.
The scarecrow museum in Katowice, Poland. It's very strange, but worth a visit. Apparently the owner started collecting scarecrows many years ago, and then decided he should share the joy. Thank goodness he did!
24 August 2010 4:21PM nowornever Report this comment
schnapsmuseum in vienna funeralmuseum in vienna
8 July 2011 8:15PM hcscarr Report this comment
I so want to go to the pineapple museum, it sounds awesome and hilarious! By the way, Southport is in Merseyside not Lancashire. Research fail!
8 September 2011 2:16AM ludicrous_grin Report this comment
The Kuching Cat Museum! More cat related.. things than you can shake a stick at. Too Much if anything...