Weird but Wonderful Museums
Around The World
Mütter Museum in Philadelphia
"If you like the bizarre, the unusual, and the truly weird, then you will love this museum," but "if you have a weak stomach, consider the art museum." A repository of medical mysteries and maladies, the Mütter boasts such prized possessions as a tumor removed from President Grover Cleveland.
Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto
"One of the most unusual and interesting museums you'll see in a lifetime of museum visits," the Bata family's incredible collection of shoes is "housed in a gigantic shoebox."
Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot
In addition to the collection of mashers and the world's largest Pringle (both pictured above),
highlights include "a 'potatoe' signed by Dan Quayle" and "a potato tuxedo made out of burlap bags."
International Museum of Toilets in Delhi
"Delhi's wackiest museum" displays "a wealth of information on the history of personal hygiene, toilets, baths, and more." From the very first sewers to loos disguised as stacks of books, the exhibits are "great fun and worth a visit."
Crazy Tours' Communist-Era Apartment Museum in Krakow
Jump in a Trabant like this one--you can even have it welcome you at the airport bearing salted bread, pickles, and vodka--and head to the "private museum" that Crazy Tours operates: "a Nowa Huta apartment unchanged since Communist days."
Lightner Museum in St. Augustine
Formerly a hotel and spa, this beautiful Florida property now houses collections as varied
as the cigar-band artwork above, the world's largest (dry) indoor swimming pool,
and human-hair needlepoint pictures.
The Parthenon in Nashville
"This is just odd," says one IgoUgo member, but it's true: "in the middle of a large, urban park" in Nashville sits the world's only full-scale replica of Athens' Parthenon. Built for Tennessee's centennial, today it serves as the city's art museum.
Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford
"A treasure chest of the weird and wonderful" that "should be a compulsory must-see place for every tourist," England's Pitt Rivers is also the "strangest museum" around, with "shocking artifacts" (think mummies and shrunken heads) that "seriously question the imperialists' sense of taste."
Bakken Museum in Minneapolis
Dedicated to exploring the mysteries of the electrical world, the Bakken is a "delightful, slightly offbeat" place with "hands-on exhibits" that run "from electric eels to defibrillators to Frankenstein."
Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels
This unique museum provides a multisensory experience: "you get a headset that plays the music of instruments on display as you near their cases." Take a "marvelous musical tour through history"as you view every instrument you can imagine--and some you can't.
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