This is probably the strangest museum we have ever visited. The Icelandic Phallological Museum is located in the centre of Reykjavik and contains a collection of over 200 penises from almost every land and sea mammal in Iceland, including humans.
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The Icelandic Phallological Museum in Reykjavik is probably the only museum in the world with a large collection of mammalian penises. The museum contains a collection of more than 250 penises from almost every land and sea mammal in Iceland.
You can see organs from different kinds of whales, seals, walruses and various land mammals, including polar bears and humans (yes, there are people who have donated this organ to the museum after their death!) The penises are stuffed or soaked in alcohol and aren't really all that interesting to look at. Still, you'll be fascinated by both the museum and the history behind it!
Founder of The Icelandic Phallological museum
Most fascinating of all is the founder, Sigurður Hjartarson, who has devoted himself wholeheartedly to this collection. Originally a history and Spanish teacher, over the years Sigurður became a completely different career. He says that the foundation was laid in 1974, when he worked as a headmaster at a school in Akranes.
Together with the teachers at the school, he discussed how everything was used on the animals in the past, and remembered that as a child he was given a bull penis to drive the animals. One of the teachers, who also worked in a slaughterhouse, made a bull penis for Sigurður. Some other teachers were working at a whaling station, and suddenly he had a few puppies too. And so the idea was gradually born ...
The museum opened in Reykjavik in 1997 and has grown steadily. The exhibition has been widely publicised in the media around the world and by the summer of 2011, 13 000 people had visited the quirky little museum.
Visit the museum?
Want to visit the Icelandic Phallological Museum in Reykjavik? The museum is very centrally located in Reykjavik, at Laugavegur 116, so it's easy to drop by. Have a look at the museum's website for further practical information.
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s p i n d e l t j e j e n (och lilla Pyret i magen) says:
Hahaha, Gaymasen (gaymasen.se) blogged about that place when he was in Iceland last summer :))
11 September 2012 - 18:27
pockethexan says:
Hm, I'll tell the husband about this post, it sounds like he might have something to say about it...<;-p because I'm completely stunned...is such a museum really necessary? Would be interesting to hear what the creators of the place have to say about it?
I just thought I'd pop in to see if you have any idea which authors are on "G" in Iceland (well, apart from Arnaldur Indriðason who is the only one from the country I've read...and maybe some of Snorri's edda too).
The fact is that our little house on wheels will take me and my husband to Gbrg and the Book Fair at the end of the month and this year's theme is "Nordic Literature" and I, being both half-Danish and half-Finnish, have a pretty good idea of the other Nordic authors except for the Icelandic ones.
So PL, come up with some suggestions on what is read in the country, that would be really cute!
Hugs from someone who just loves the photos you have taken, especially the Cultural Centre is awesome!!! /Pockethexan himself!
11 September 2012 - 19:47
Lennart says:
There is so much to see in Iceland!
Don't forget to swim!
Live well!
11 September 2012 - 21:01
admin says:
Pockethexan, I don't really know about it, but I'll have a look next time we pass a bookshop. I'll get back to you! By the way, I'm a little curious about your husband's possible thoughts on this, not quite ordinary, museum ...
😉
Lennart, of course we should not forget to swim! Tomorrow there will be a bath!
🙂
11 September 2012 - 23:34