The 10 strangest museums in the world
As you probably already know, Misterio Studio offers the design and installation of exhibitions for museums and cultural organizations.
We understand museums as living spaces that can have very diverse discourses and formats and can address a wide variety of audiences: those more accustomed to this type of institution and even some audiences that consider museums as spaces outside their usual leisure. In this post, we invite you to take a walk through this list of the strangest museums in the world. There are many, but we have chosen the ones we have found most original. Beyond the hegemonic institutions to which we are accustomed, rare museums can be the most fun spaces. Enjoy them!
- Museum of the Witches in Zugarramurdi, Navarre, Spain
- Museum of Instant Noodles in Osaka and Yokohama, Japan
- Condom Museum, Thailand
- UFO Museum, USA
- Museum of Burnt Food, Arlington, Mass.
- Dachshund Museum, Germany
- Museum of Broken Relationships, Zagreb, Croatia
- French Fry Museum, Bruges, Belgium
- Vent Haven Puppet Museum, USA
- Museum of the beret, Bilbao, SPAIN
Museum of the Witches in Zugarramurdi, Navarre, Spain
This Navarrese museum is pure history. It deals with issues related to witchcraft and 17th-century Navarrese society with its legends and myths. The tour begins with an introduction to the Xareta region and its landscape, closely linked to witchcraft and covens. Visitors can also enjoy the documentary La Caza de Brujas and discover the birth of the myth with María Ximilegui. If you decide to visit, do not hesitate to go to the cave of Zugarramurdi, where satanic and magical rituals were performed.
Museum of Instant Noodles in Osaka and Yokohama, Japan
Instant noodles were one of the great inventions of the 20th century, so it's great to pay tribute to them. The museum has been open since 1958, and its central part shows instant noodle cartons from around the world. There is a movie theatre in the shape of a noodle packet and a factory where visitors can make noodles. The museum is dedicated to the creator of this type of soup, Momofuku Ando.
Condom Museum, Thailand
It is an educational museum created to raise awareness among young people to maintain safe sex. It was also created as a tribute to condoms for their contribution to the AIDS pandemic during the 1990s. The visit goes through rooms full of male and female condoms, lubricants and explanations about sexual health. There is even a room with a laboratory where the resistance of condoms can be measured by inflating them until they burst, and, in another, they are filled with water to test their elasticity.
The government's goal is to reduce the number of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as to raise awareness among the younger generations and break down stereotypes surrounding HIV.
UFO Museum, USA
The International Ufology Museum of New Mexico was founded in 1991 to inform about extraterrestrials, flying saucers, and abductions to explain the Roswell incident. This incident occurred in 1947 when an alleged UFO crashed on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. There is a room in the museum dedicated to the bibliography on this subject and another room where you can find images of crop circles supposedly made by extraterrestrials.
Museum of Burnt Food, Arlington, Mass.
Deborah Henson-Conant founded this museum in the late 1980s to pay homage to all those foods we accidentally burn in the kitchen, from pies to meats and fish. If you go there hungry, we're sure you'll get rid of it.
Dachshund Museum, Germany
The Dachshund is so popular in Germany that it was the mascot of the Munich Olympic Games in 1972, the famous Waldi. The museum has more than 4,500 objects related to this breed: toys, decorative elements, photos…
Museum of Broken Relationships, Zagreb, Croatia
This place, dedicated to failed love relationships, has exhibits that include personal objects of lovers. From letters, photographs, and souvenirs,, donated to the museum, and brief descriptions. The museum was born, as described by its creators, "as a concept of art that comes from the notion of objects that integrate memories and feelings", aiming to generate a space of "safe memory" to maintain the heritage of broken relationships. An absolute ode to romanticism.
French Fry Museum, Bruges, Belgium
Founded in 2008, it is the only museum in the world dedicated to this beautiful creation. The Frietmuseum exhibits different utensils used to make French fries and photographs, sculptures and paintings related to this food. On the second floor, you can learn about the history of potatoes; on the second floor, you will learn how they arrived in Belgium and how the first French fries were created; and in the basement, the best part, you can taste them! Add that the building where the museum is located, the Saaihalle, is a historic building from 1399, enlarged in 1441.
Vent Haven Puppet Museum, USA
This place has more than 1,000 puppets. Among them is the famous Lamb Chomp of television presenter Shari Lewis. There are also historical pieces, one of the oldest being a papier-mâché head with glass eyes. Other renowned ventriloquists, such as Jeff Dunham or Terry Fator, have also donated some of their characters to the museum. It's quite a visual spectacle.
Museum of the beret, Bilbao, SPAIN
Located on the outskirts of Balmaseda, Boinas Encartada Museoa aims to spread the value of the symbolic textile factory dedicated to the production of berets from 1892 to 1992. This factory museum has great architectural richness And valuable machinery worth seeing: a hydraulic turbine from the beginning of the 20th century and a complex system of pulleys and straps. Guided tours teach you about each instrument and how basque berets were created.
Cultural tourism can be an exciting alternative to organizing the next trip. Not only are the museums contemplative, but in many, you can live experiences, do activities, and even taste products! If you found this article interesting or you know other "rarer museums in the world", you can leave us a comment on this post or social networks. We hope you enjoyed the cultural tour!