The 5 Strangest Museums in Europe
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KOMUNITAS BLOGGER UNIVERSITAS SRIWIJAYA
Most museums try to offer their visitors a better view of the history and culture of the places
where they are built. But these five don’t fit in the “normal museums”
category, their main purpose is to shock, and they are very successful at it. Here’s a
look at Europe’s five strangest museums:
5. The Torture Museum in Amsterdam
Amsterdam Torture Museum
The city of Amsterdam is a giant museum in itself, with beautiful old buildings just waiting to
be discovered and dozens of smaller but equally interesting real museums. But none are as
shocking as the Torture Museum, where visitors can find old instruments of torture gathered
from all over Europe, and “helpful” instructions on how they were used.
It might sound educational and fun but The Amsterdam Torture Museum isn’t for
people with sensitive stomachs. The paintings covering the walls do a great job of showing
how every torture device was used, and many of the images are not pretty. So if you were
thinking of taking your fiancé as a surprise, you had better think again.
4. The British Lawnmower Museum
Lawnmowers
If you’re a lawnmower enthusiast then this is a place you simply must visit, at least
once. The British Lawnmower Museum was established by Brian Radam, an ex-racing
champion that was fascinated by lawnmowers from an early age and ended up creating the
very successful Discount Garden Machinery Warehouse.
Starting with the invention of the original lawnmower and ending with the world’s first
solar powered robot mower, The British Lawnmower Museum has it all. You can find mowers
that belonged to royalty such as Prince Charles and the late Lady Diana, the most expensive
mowers in the world, a 2-inch functional lawnmower and many, many other
“interesting” things.
3. Leeds Castle Dog-Collar Museum
Dog-Collar Museum
Attracting more than 500,000 visitors every year, The Dog-Collar Museum set-up inside
Leeds Castle is one of the most popular strange museums in the world. The unique dog
collar collection counts over 100 unique items that present the history of canine-wear starting
from early medieval times to the Victorian Age.
The dog collars were originally gathered by Irish medieval collector John Hurt and his wife
Gertrude, and were donated to Leeds Castle in 1979, as a tribute to the castle’s last
private owner, Lady Baillie, a big dog lover.
The antique dog collars tell 500 years of canine history, from early, 15th century dog collars,
filled with spikes to protect the neck of hunting hounds against wolves, boars or bears, to the
glamorous leather and velvet baroque collars of the 18th century.
2. The Icelandic Phallological Museum
Icelandic Phallology Museum
It might sound a little dirty to some people, but this strange museum was established in the
sole interest of science. Sigurður Hjartarson says he founded The Icelandic Phallological
Museum so people from all over the world could ““undertake serious study into
the field of phallology in an organized, scientific fashion.”
This odd museum has a collection of phallic specimens from almost every living mammal in
Iceland. It’s not a collection that anyone would be proud to have but I suppose it has
its fans. The 245 items of the phallic collection include specimens of sperm, humpback and
even the giant blue whale, polar bears, different kinds of seals and walruses and even tiny
mice and other rodents.
The strangest item in the Phallological Museum is the penis of the “Icelandic
Christmas Lad”, donated by a former mayor of Reykjavik. It is believed that
“Icelandic Christmas Lad” refers to one of Santa’s toy-making helpers.
1. The Hair Museum
The Hair Museum
Located in Avanos, Turkey, The Hair Museum is a must-see attraction when visiting
Cappadocia. It all began in 1979, when famous Turkish potter Galip Korukcu, started
collecting women’s hair and creating a hair museum that would raise his potting-class
participation. Now, nearly 30 years later, Galip’s idea turned into an international
tourist attraction and even won him a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
This crazy hair collection numbers over 16,000 different locks of hair and the specific
addresses of the bearers. Every year, Galip chooses 10 addresses from the walls of the
museum and invites them to participate at his workshops for free and stay in his guesthouse.