Dinosaur fossils and fine art are one thing, but noodles, toilets and torture instruments? TONY CLAYTON-LEAtakes a whistle-stop tour of some of the world's strangest museum exhibits
Sulabh International Museum of Toilets
NEW DELHI, INDIA
Excuse me for asking, but what precisely is this?This museum documents the evolution of toilets from 2500 BC to the present. Through a series of interesting facts – we are told that the first separate toilets for male and female appeared in Paris in 1739 – images and chronological exhibits (non-interactive, thankfully) the museum highlights toilet-related social customs, toilet etiquette, furniture, bidets and water closets. Admirably, the museum also acts as a crucial point of information about the health hazards of poor hygiene. Museum founder Dr Bindeshwar Pathak says: "In my own country, India, how can anyone ignore the subject of toilet when we are faced with human excretions of the order of 900 million litres of urine and 135 million kilogrammes of faecal matter per day, with a totally inadequate system of its collection and disposal?" See www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org.
Strangest exhibitA portable toilet that looks like a bookcase, and on which are written the titles of literary classics.
How to get thereAir India flies to New Delhi from Birmingham. Virgin Atlantic, Jet Airways, Air India and British Airways fly from London Heathrow.
Museum of Bad Art
DEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, US
Excuse me for asking, but what precisely is this?It is what it is: the world's only museum that is dedicated to the collection, preservation and wilful celebration of bad art in all its forms. Founded in 1993, the museum has the primary aim of bringing the worst of art to the widest possible audience. Although some people feel the museum is a joke, the founders and curators (all volunteers) work long and hard at sourcing the best bad art out there. "We take our mission very seriously," it website says, "and, frankly, we are shocked and indignant at derisive innuendo." See www.museumofbadart.org.
Strangest exhibitSunday on the Pot with George (acrylic on canvas, unknown artist). We love the blurb: "This pointillist piece is curious for meticulous attention to fine detail, such as the stitching around the edge of the towel, in contrast to the almost careless disregard for the subject's feet."
How to get thereAer Lingus flies from Dublin to Boston. Dedham is about 15km south of downtown Boston, accessible by public transport or taxi.
Museum of noodles
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN
Excuse me for asking, but what precisely is this?A ramen is a Japanese noodle dish (introduced from China) that can be topped with a variety of vegetables, fish and meats. This museum – Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum, to give it its precise title – is entirely devoted to the noodle, and exhibits every ramen-related item you can think of: noodle-making utensils, bowls (more than 300), chopstick wrappers, aprons and more.
Also highlighted is the historical development of noodles and the invention of the “instant” noodle container. While you’re perusing the multitude of noodle memorabilia from around the world, overhead screens relay noodle commercials from the past 30 years. For the younger noodle fan, there are noodle-themed video games. See www.ramen.co.jp.
Strangest exhibitA replica of the first noodle dish ever eaten (by the 17th-century samurai Mito Komon).
How to get thereThere are no direct flights to Yokohama from Ireland or the UK. Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways fly from London Heathrow to Tokyo Narita. You can reach Yokohama from Tokyo Narita by bus or train.
Museum of the banana
HESPERIA, CALIFORNIA, US
Excuse me for asking, but what precisely is this?This museum does exactly what it says on the skin. According to Guinness World Records, this museum boasts the largest collection of items devoted to a single fruit. Founded in 1976 by Ken Bannister, aka Ken Bananaster, its displays include the world's only petrified banana, gold-plated bananas, a banana golf putter, banana shampoo, banana alcohol, a banana sofa and banana art. The museum is at pains to point out that "nothing lewd, crude or lascivious to do with bananas is accepted or displayed". Thank goodness for that. See www.bananaclub.com.
Strangest exhibitThe gold-sequined Michael Jackson Banana. Don't ask.
How to get thereAer Lingus flies from Dublin to Long Beach, California, in partnership with JetBlue. The town of Hesperia is accessible by motorway and public transport.
Glore Psychiatric Museum
MISSOURI, US
Excuse me for asking, but what precisely is this?In 1874 Lunatic Asylum No 2, as it was then known, opened its doors under the notion that it would "dispel the portentous clouds that penetrate the intellects of minds diseased". Over the next 127 years the asylum did just that. The building is now a correctional centre, and right beside it is the Glore museum, which houses an extraordinary range of exhibits that tell the visitor how the mental-health industry, and its treatments for various mental ailments, have changed over the years. Exhibits include dungeons, dousing tanks, fever cabinets (used for the cure of syphilis), tranquilliser chairs and "lunatic boxes" (used during the 18th and 19th centuries for the calming of violent patients). See www.stjosephmuseum.org.
Strangest exhibitThe glass case that displays more than 1,400 metal objects (including screws, nails, pins, bottle caps and bolts) swallowed over a number of years by a patient.
How to get thereAer Lingus flies from Dublin to Chicago O'Hare and from Dublin to Denver (in partnership with JetBlue). You can get to St Joseph from both airports via public transport.
Museum of Questionable Medical Devices
MINNESOTA, US
Excuse me for asking, but what precisely is this?This museum features the world's largest display of items the human mind has devised – without the benefit of either scientific method or common sense – to cure itself. It comprises major collections on loan from (among other bodies) the American Medical Association, the US Food and Drug Administration and the National Council Against Health Fraud. It includes "devious displays of quackery, fraud, deceit and deception; the largest collection of medical chicanery and mayhem ever assembled under one roof".
Strangest exhibitWe really like the Battle Creek vibratory chair (supposed to cure headaches and back pain and to stimulate intestinal peristalsis), but we have particular fondness for the Prostate Gland Warmer (a 10cm probe, a three-metre cord and a blue light bulb – whoa!), the Recto Rotor (once advertised as the "most efficient invention for the quick relief of piles and constipation) and the Foot-Powered Breast Enlarger (a pedal pump, clear plastic tubing and three large cups). See www.smm.org.
How to get thereAer Lingus flies from Dublin to Chicago, where you can connect to Minneapolis St Paul.
The Icelandic Phallological Museum
HÚSAVÍK, ICELAND
Excuse me for asking, but what precisely is this?Not to put too fine a point on it, this museum contains phallic specimens belonging to all types of mammal found in Iceland (including legally certified donations of four specimens belonging to Homo sapiens). The collection has more than 200 penises (and constituent parts) and 300 of what the museum describes as related "artistic oddments" and "practical utensils". The aim of the museum is to, er, raise the profile of the ancient science of phallology from a borderline field of study to an area as mainstream as the arts. Those suffering from penile dementia will have a field day. See www.phallus.is.
Strangest exhibitA phallus of a common harbour porpoise caught off the north coast of Iceland in August 1985. Preserved, along with both testicles, in formalin.
How to get thereThere are no direct flights to Iceland from Belfast or Dublin. Icelandair flies to Reykjavík's Keflavík International Airport, 40km from the city, from Glasgow and Manchester. Iceland Express fiies to Reykjavík from London Stansted. You can then get to Húsavík by bus and internal flight.
Museum of wallpaper
KASSEL, GERMANY
Excuse me for asking, but what precisely is this?If you want to celebrate all things connected with wallpaper, then this is the venue to visit. With more than 18,000 examples, you can view not just the first machines used for printing wallpaper but also different kinds of wallpaper, such as hand-painted wallpaper, gold-plated wallpaper and wallpaper that features everything from panoramic scenes to animals and toys. A word of warning, however: this isn't the most exciting museum in the world. See www.museum-kassel.de.
Strangest exhibitHandmade leather wallpaper – feeling is believing.
How to get thereKassel is close to several airports you can fly to from Ireland: Frankfurt (served from Dublin by Aer Lingus, Lufthansa and Ryanair), Cologne (served from Dublin by Germanwings) and Düsseldorf (served from Dublin by Aer Lingus and Ryanair).
Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
Excuse me for asking, but what precisely is this?This museum, housed in a lovely part of one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, aims to give an idea of what it was like for heretics, witches and state enemies back in the Middle Ages. There are more than 60 instruments of torture on display, each of which is ingenious in its own perverse, masochistic way. See www.heartofeurope.cz/ museum_6.html#torture.
Strangest exhibit:Take your pick from the head crusher (apparently still popular in some Latin-American countries), the chastity belt (torture for those wearing it and not having the key to hand) and the truly gruesome Virgin of Nuremberg (a coffin-like container whose strategically positioned spikes penetrate the body without rupturing any vital organs – cue a long and agonising death; seen in a model, right).
How to get thereAer Lingus, Ryanair and Czech Airlines fly from Dublin to Prague.