The Smithsonian For Weirdos
Not every museum can be the Louvre, and some don’t want to be. For those of us who prefer our museums a little more niche but no less informative, a wacky museum is enough to base an entire itinerary off of. Here are 20 of the weirdest museums from around the world that combine education and entertainment.
1. Mütter Museum
Housed within the heart of Philadelphia is America’s finest (and spookiest) medical museum. The “disturbingly informative” Mütter Museum explores the beauty and idiosyncrasy of the human body. Their permanent collection includes a 7’6” tall skeleton, the shared liver of conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker, and half of Albert Einstein’s brain.
2. Museum of Broken Relationships
Reeling from a bad breakup? Take your broken heart (and some junk your ex left behind) to Zagreb, Croatia. Started by two artists in the wake of their own breakup, the Museum of Broken Relationships is a testament to love gone wrong. Some 3500 objects, ranging from a vial of tears to a wedding dress, detail countless stories of love and loss.
3. Museum of Bad Art
You may have heard of the MoMA, but we bet you aren’t familiar with the Boston-based MOBA. The Museum of Bad Art displays art that wouldn’t be displayed anywhere else, but it’s far from mere satire. Rather than displaying kitsch or boring art, the MOBA showcases art that is sincere yet flawed—the type of art that you, the viewer, would be more likely to make than Claude Monet.
Jane023 (talk) 12:28, 24 December 2019 (UTC) on Wikimedia
4. Gopher Museum
When it comes to roadside attractions, the people of Torrington, Canada, really go for the gold. The World Famous Gopher Hole Museum features 44 intricate dioramas of taxidermied gophers doing everything from getting married to robbing banks and, trippily enough, visiting the very museum they’re housed in.
Mack Male from Edmonton, AB, Canada on Wikimedia
5. Torture Museum, Amsterdam
Not to be confused with the other museum of torture instruments in Amsterdam, this museum dispels history from myth. Genuine artifacts of torture such as thumbscrews and guillotines alongside more arcane devices such as iron maidens. Some of these devices are genuine articles; others were invented for pulpy novels, but all of them look very, very painful.
PersianDutchNetwork on Wikimedia
6. Cancún Underwater Museum
When you can’t decide between scuba diving and strolling a museum, the MUSA in Cancún offers the best of both worlds. Beneath the shimmering azure water is a collection of 500 sculptures designed to wow visitors and rejuvenate Cancún’s marine ecosystem. For visitors afraid of the bends, tours are also available via glass-bottom boat.
Andy Blackledge from Scottsdale, AZ, USA on Wikimedia
7. CupNoodles Museum, Osaka
If you’ve ever been a college student living off of 99¢ instant ramen, then why not pay homage to the man behind the dish, Momofuku Ando? The first museum dedicated to instant noodles (a second location opened in Yokohama in 2015) celebrates the iconic Japanese dish in its’ most portable form. Admission is free, and you can customize your own Cup Noodles.
8. Sulabh International Museum of Toilets
It’s easy to take sanitation for granted, which is exactly why Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak opened the International Museum of Toilets in Delhi. Tracing the development of sanitation through 5000 years of human history, the museum highlights the importance of public sanitation. You can even read toilet-themed poems.
9. Mothman Museum
Take a trip to Point Pleasant, WV, to learn about Appalachia’s favorite cryptid: Mothman. Whether or not this winged, red-eyed creature really exists is beside the point; Mothman is West Virginia’s favorite spooky son. This museum celebrates him in all his eerie glory with eyewitness reports of the creature, props from the 2002 movie The Mothman Prophecies, and a larger-than-life statue perfect for selfies.
Richie Diesterheft on Wikimedia
10. Icelandic Phallological Museum
It’s easy to dismiss Reykjavík’s Phallological Museum as a gimmick rather than a scientific institution. While the contents of this museum devoted to private parts may be giggle-worthy, it also offers insight into how we perceive human (and animal and folkloric) anatomy.
11. Baku Museum of Miniature Books
Inside the old city of Baku, Azerbaijan, lies the world’s only museum dedicated to miniature books. Opened in 2002, the museum contains over 6500 miniature books from around the world, including a 17th-century Qur’an, a palm-sized Beatles songbook, and extensive collections of Azeri classics. Some of these books are so small they can only be read using a magnifying glass!
Stanislav Kozlovskiy on Wikimedia
12. Napoleonic Museum
While the contents of the Museo Napoleonico are fairly standard, their location is anything but. Derived from the collections of Cuban Napoleonic fanboys Julio Lobo and Orestes Ferrara, Havana houses one of the most important collections of Napoleon memorabilia in the West. One of Napoleon's descendants even visited the museum following its restoration in 2011!
13. Faye’s Underground Home
The Australian town of Coober Pedy is famous for two things: opal mining and scorching heat. With temperatures reaching as high as 118° in the summer, many of Coober Pedy’s buildings are dugouts built into hillsides. Faye’s Underground Home is a time capsule of 1960s design and one woman’s determination.
14. Mummies of Guanajuato
When you think of mummified remains, you probably think of Egypt rather than Mexico. Guanajuato’s scorching hot climate leads to natural mummification, and a “burial tax” led to over a hundred bodies being exhumed, stored above ground, and eventually displayed for the public.
15. Museum of Enduring Beauty
This museum is actually only the third floor of a larger museum in Malacca, Malaysia. Seeking to challenge traditional beauty standards and celebrate cultural awareness, the Beauty Museum explores the connection between beauty and pain. Displays include corsetry, foot binding, and neck stretching.
16. Museum of Man and Science
Traditional healing may be a thing of the past in the West, but not in South Africa. This Johannesburg museum doubles as a pharmacy where traditional healers can shop for bones and animal skin to use in their remedies. And, if WebMD isn’t helping you, the proprietors will roll the bones for a diagnosis.
The New York Public Library on Unsplash
17. World Doll Exhibition
Some people think that dolls are creepy, but the couple who founded the World Doll Exhibition in Rabat, Morocco, would certainly disagree with you. As kitschy as they are cute, some 2500 dolls show off national costumes and craftsmanship from around the world.
Doğan Alpaslan Demir on Pexels
18. Oscar Niemeyer Museum
This museum dedicated to Brazil’s famous architect perches precariously atop a pillar. Completed when Niemeyer was 95 years old—he passed away at 104!—the building itself is the star of the show. Staring out, the gallery dares visitors to see the world through Niemeyer’s eyes.
Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz) on Wikimedia
19. Bata Shoe Museum
If you’ve ever wanted to see Elvis’s blue suede shoes in person, this Toronto museum is the place to go. This shoebox-shaped museum walks visitors through 4500 years of footwear, the largest shoe collection in the world. And you thought you liked shoes.
20. British Lawnmower Museum
This museum is about as niche as you can get! With collections dating as far back as 1799 and from blood as blue as Princess Diana’s, this family business collects some of the biggest, priciest, and fastest mowers in history.
