15 weird museums you never knew existed

With a world filled with billions of people, there are bound to be a variety of eclectic interests and museums are no exception. From bad art to bananas and roller skating to UFOs, there’s a museum for every person. This sign points to the ‘UFO crash site at Roswell’.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and to the curators at the Museum of Bad Art, none of these pieces are beautiful. They’re either bad pieces made by otherwise talented artists or bad pieces made by exceptionally untalented artists. The collection includes portraits, landscapes and still life pieces. This one, for example, is ‘Mana Lisa’ by Andrea Schmidt of Vancouver, Canada. You can see most of the collection online.

Located inside Leeds Castle in Kent, England – once a residence of Henry VIII – this museum showcases five centuries of dog collars. Some are iron, some are plastic, and some have large spikes. There’s something for everyone.

Located in the German city of Ulm, the Museum of Bread and Art is exactly what you think it is: a museum about bread – a much loved German staple. Entrepreneurs Willy Eiselen and his son Dr Hermann Eiselen founded the museum in 1955, with a focus on art and the global food system.

The Museum of Broken Relationships opened in Croatia’s capital Zagreb in 2010. Developed by founders Olinka Vištica and Dražen Grubišić after their own failed relationship, the idea was to collect items from other broken relationships – and donations from local residents rolled in. The museum has since expanded to pop-up locations where you can have a look at the broken relationships of people from around the world.

Located in Reykjavik, Iceland, the Iceland Phallological Museum is, according to its website, “probably the only museum in the world to contain a collection of phallic specimens belonging to all the various types of mammal found in a single country.” The museum brings the ancient science of phallology to light and allows people to take an educational and scientific approach to this field. There are more than 215 penises and penile parts in its collection.

If you think this museum a little strange, check out the oddly peaceful pictures of empty cities around the world during lockdown.

Who would have thought there would be such an interest in washing machines? The Lee Maxwell Washing Machine Museum, located in Colorado, USA, has more than 1400 antique washing machines. Lee Maxwell, a retired electrical engineering professor from Colorado State University, began collecting the machines in 1985 and the collection grew so vast that the Guinness World Record was awarded to him for the world’s largest washing machine collection.

Books come in all shapes and sizes, and at the Museum of Miniature Books in Baku, Azerbaijan, these books come in miniature. The museum, which opened in 2002, contains thousands of tiny books from the private collection of bibliophile Zarifa Salahova. Some of the books are so small they can only be read using a magnifying glass! How’s that for dedication?

Do extraterrestrials exist? If so, what is their preferred mode of transport? The International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico, is dedicated to answering these questions and researching UFO activity. It includes exhibits on crop circles, Area 51 and other alien-related events. It even keeps a log of UFO sightings across the country.

While we may not be able to get out to these museums during the covid-19 pandemic, there are a bunch of virtual museums and concerts you can stream online.

Located in Las Vegas, USA, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, also called the Mob Museum, provides a thorough history of organised crime and a view into the ‘mob’ world. Located in a former 1933 post office and courthouse, the Mob Museum has both permanent and rotating exhibitions, including the Valentine’s Day Massacre wall and film selections.

Located in an unassuming building in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum is a wonder to behold. The front of the shop contains apothecary jars, medical instruments, surgical tools and other paraphernalia pertaining to pharmacists in New Orleans, while at the back contains a setup of what it would look like for a pharmacist to work. According to the museum’s website, Louis J. Dufilho, Jr was America’s first licenced pharmacist and “the first to pass the licencing examination, therefore making his pharmacy the first United States apothecary shop to be conducted on the basis of proven adequacy”.

At the Busy Beaver Button Museum you can learn about the history of buttons. Browse a collection of political, humorous and just plain entertaining buttons. Visitors can also make their own buttons at this hidden Chicago gem (or button?).

If you’re ever in Kansas, stop by the Museum of the Odd to see things you never thought you’d want to see. The museum is actually the home of Randy ‘Honey Boy’ Walker, who has collected strange items such as Elvis Presley’s toenail, pictures of corpses in their coffins, and elephant dung in the shape of Adolf Hitler.

If this museum is in bad taste, here’s a little joke overheard at a museum to cheer you up.

Founder Barry Levenson is seriously dedicated to mustard. He left his job as an assistant attorney general to start this condiment-honouring museum in Wisconsin, USA. It holds a collection of nearly 5700 mustards from more than 70 countries. We didn’t even know that many types of mustard existed!

This museum in Nebraska, USA, boasts the largest collection of historical roller skates in the world. Some skates are almost 200 years old! There are also skating costumes, thousands of photos of skaters, and programmes from national and international roller-skating competitions.

Lovers of Dr Seuss will also love this museum dedicated to him. 

You can find practically every object shaped like a banana at this museum in California, such as staplers, statues, record players, and salt and pepper shakers. Even better, you can also eat practically any banana-flavoured treat here, like banana ice cream, banana soft drink, and, of course, banana splits.

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Source: RD.com