Lovers of eccentricity, the gloomy, even of 'dark tourism', your vision of art lives in the museums most sinister in the world . This list is made to break the conventions when traveling, a way to discover the most surprising side of culture of a city, but also the funniest… Or not.
Civitatis , the company in charge of guided tours and excursions around the world, has created the definitive list to turn our cultural routes upside down. Knowing the museums and the art of a place is always a success, but if this time creativity is surrounded by a macabre halo of oddities , the trip can only get better. More gloomy, but better.
MUSEUM OF DEATH, LOS ANGELES UNITED STATES)
Definitely, this museum is made only for the brave. Founded in 1995, the space brings together the largest exhibition in the world related to crime and death . We have already warned that not everyone will have the stomach for the visit, since his works abandon discretion and embrace explicitness.
Funeral and forensic tools, crime scene photographs, human remains or even the head of an executed serial killer in 1922 they will be some of the pearls that we will find in its rooms, only suitable for those truly interested in death.
Welcome to the vast world of crime.
WITCHES MUSEUM, ZUGARRAMURDI (SPAIN)
Starting from where you are, an old hospital , this Navarrese museum already gives clues of what awaits us. Inside, the history and tribute to what the men and women of the town experienced back in the year 1610.
Because in the Museum of Witches it is reviewed the inquisitorial process that condemned many people to the stake . And here it is done in a respectful way, but also interesting. The popular image of the witches of the legends is left aside to make these unjustly accused men and women protagonists.
Zugarramurdi is known for the numerous stories of witches.
MÜTTER MUSEUM, PHILADELPHIA (UNITED STATES)
We go from death to rarity, but also to research and science. The Mütter Museum houses an exhibition on the human history of anatomy and medicine , specifically from the 7th century B.C. to the present.
And we use the qualification of rarity precisely because there we find pieces such as a collection of skulls or even mummified bodies , in addition to a broad perspective on human remains and medical objects.
Mütter Museum, Philadelphia
GLORE PSYCHIATRIC MUSEUM, ST. JOSEPH (UNITED STATES)
Staying within the realm of medicine, this museum was declared one of the most unusual in the country. Its walls narrate 145 years of hospital history , gathering surgical tools, nurses' uniforms, personal notes, furniture and anecdotes of everything that happened in the compound for a long time mental health treatment.
But it also picks up some of the ways in which art helped his patients to have a ray of hope: ceramics, paintings, drawings and other works created by themselves and that are now exhibited in the showcases of this peculiar museum.
Glore Psychiatric Museum, between the creepy and the hopeful.
MUSEUM OF ENDURING BEAUTY, MALACA, MALAYSIA
At first glance, the name of this museum does not seem particularly scary, but beauty canons can be truly terrifying . Here are collected the different ideas of what has been considered beauty over time.
Although it seems harmless, in these different concepts are sacrifices, the restriction of the growth of the feet and other barbarities that people have considered opportune to reach the aesthetic culmination.
Discover Malacca and its Museum of Enduring Beauty.
PLASTINARIUM, GUBEN (GERMANY)
To talk about this museum, you must first know what is plastination : a procedure embalmment of specimens that allows to preserve odourless, dry and durable samples.
The process was created by Gunther von Hagens , German artist and scientist pioneer in this technique. Plastination is intended to help medical research and education, but it is also an outreach tool for society at large.
And if you are already wondering, yes, what can be seen in this museum they are real human bodies! That is why it is not an exhibition that everyone can enjoy. There you can learn about the human anatomy, but also animal, and plastination processes. A fascinating world for some and horrifying for others.
Perhaps the award for rarity goes to the curious Plastinarium museum.
MUMMY MUSEUM, GUANAJUATO (MEXICO)
And speaking of corpses, in Guanajuato resides the largest collection of natural mummy in the world . It is even considered cultural heritage of the Municipality.
The protagonists come from the exhumation in the tombs of the Santa Paula Cemetery. And they are natural mummies , that is, they have not gone through a conservation process, but their condition is due to the lack of oxygen and moisture exchange. Impossible not to be part of the most sinister museums.
Discover in Guanajuato these natural mummies.
ISLAND OF THE DOLLS, XOCHIMILCO (MEXICO)
Perhaps this is not a typical museum as we know it, but its fame and strangeness have earned it a place on this list. because the Doll's island It is a place that carries the sinister as a flag , starting from the beginning, its history.
Legend has it that on this island, owned by Don Julián Santana, a girl choked on the lilies of the place. Ever since that terrible incident, her spirit remained there. After some strange events, Don Julián decided to place numerous dolls that ward off bad energies and protect him.
Now, this amulet is a real tourist attraction full of hanging dolls , and there are those who claim that strange sounds can be heard around the entire island.
For sinister, these dolls.