For curiosity and fun. A short guide to European museums of erotica and sex for those who get tired of traveling from art galleries and shopping and want something spicy.
The oldest sex museum is located in Amsterdam. It opened back in 1985 and, oddly enough, not in the Red Light District, but in the very center of the city opposite the train station. Some guidebooks directly recommend: “There is half an hour before the train departs – while away it in the museum of sex.” Initially, the modest collection of 19th-century erotic artifacts fit into several display cases. Now the “Temple of Venus,” as this museum also calls itself, occupies an entire mansion. Erotic images, paintings, photographs, objects and even sexual attractions, etc. — talk about how humanity’s attitude towards sex and erotica has changed from antiquity to the present day.
However, in the Red Light District, which was mentioned here, you can get acquainted with the topic of sensual love in theory, too, and not just in practice. The Museum of Erotica is located here. The exhibition, located on three floors, tells everything about the same thing and with the same means: figurines, paintings, photographs, ancient engravings. A historical excursion into the history of the red light district – please. Here you can see a reimagined version of the film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and visit an impromptu private booth with a wax figure of a representative of the sex industry working in the red light district. The last attraction is apparently intended for those who might and would like to meet the workers of the ancient profession in person, but do not dare. Souvenirs from this museum are very practical: condoms of different colors, smells and tastes.
One of the most famous erotic museums in Berlin is now closed. The building in the city center where it was located was demolished. The address of the new site has not yet been announced, although they say that the museum will open somewhere near the KaDeWe department store. However, the biography of the museum’s founder, Beate Use, deserves attention. Born into a farmer’s family in 1919, Beate, against all odds, managed to become a pilot and the first and only female stuntwoman in Germany in the 1930s. After the war, she made capital by publishing and distributing a brochure on sex education and hygiene and in 1962 opened the world’s first sex shop in the city of Flensburg, at that time called the “Marriage Hygiene Store.” And in 1996, Frau Use fulfilled her long-time dream and opened a museum of eroticism in her own name in Berlin. The museum’s collection is quite interesting: a collection of paintings by Japanese artists, Chinese silk panels painted with a kind of “alphabet of sex,” erotic miniatures from all over the world. Therefore, when you are going to Berlin, you can ask if the Beate Uhse Museum has opened in a new location.
Paris, Prague, Barcelona, and Copenhagen have their own erotic museums. Despite the general theme, each museum has its own specifics. Thus, the French devoted an entire floor to the history of brothels: documents, photographs, drawings created from the end of the 19th to the mid-20th century. Perhaps, looking at them, you will remember the famous works of some impressionists. In Barcelona, among other things, they offer to learn about the origins of Spanish erotic cinema, take a fresh look at the masterpieces of world painting and visit the erotic garden. In the exhibition of the Czech museum, the emphasis is on all kinds of equipment: corsets, handcuffs, chastity belts of the Victorian era, electric clothespins, etc.
Photo: loveopium.ru
The Brussels Celebrity Lingerie Museum, opened by local controversial artist Jean Buqua, offers its visitors a slightly different experience. The first part of the exhibition is the actual underwear that belonged to famous politicians and show business figures. The faded blue-and-white striped boxers allegedly worn by the Belgian Minister of Finance brought the greatest and most scandalous fame to the museum. The second part is a gallery of celebrity photo collages created over the course of 25 years by the museum’s founder—portraits of politicians with panties, mostly on their heads. They say the artist is very proud of his work.
The furthest we went into the topic was in Iceland. The collection of the Phallological Museum in Reykjavik includes more than 200 exhibits that previously belonged to all types of mammals that are found in Iceland. A separate section is dedicated to local folklore, where you can see the alleged penis of a merman caught in the 18th century.
Photo: eurotribe.com
And in Zagreb they opened a museum of what happens after a failed relationship – the Museum of Broken Hearts. The collection consisted of items donated to the museum by former lovers. What material remains after the relationship is over? An ax used to destroy furniture during a heated quarrel; a scooter bought as a gift for a lover, but after a breakup became unnecessary; a coffee machine as a reminder of the taste preferences of the “ex”; books we read together; items of clothing, letters. The creators of the museum – artists Olinka Vistice and Drazen Grubisic – believe that the stories told in their museum will help someone in need overcome a painful breakup and start life anew.
