Visiting the more popular tourist attractions is what many tourists like to do. But a holiday can be made more exciting if you visit unusual and strange places. Austria may be known for its grandious museums but it is also home to a number of strange museums worth taking a look. Four of them can be found in Vienna.
Narrenturm
Vienna has its own strange museum known as Narrenturm which translates to lunatics tower. Designed in 1783, the building was constructed to keep people with mental illness locked up in a central facility.
Situated in a mental hospital which used to be the world’s first purpose built facility for people with mental problems, the museum boasts of having one of the world’s oldest and largest collections of pathological specimens. The building is at Uni Campus Hof 6, Spitalgasse 2.
Visitors can find here some shocking objects which can only be seen during a guided tour. All five floors of the building showcase large collections of medical specimens such as those of animals and deformed skeletons.
Undertakers Museum
This museum, perhaps the only one of its kind in the world, features funerals and mourning traditions of Austrians. Located below the Central Cemetery, it showcases some 1,000 objects including items that will help people buried alive as well as coffins, hearses, mourning attire and a reusable coffin which was originally proposed by Emperor Josef I in 1784.
Unknown to many people, Vienna is actually home to the second largest cemetery in Europe.
Museum of Art Fakes
This small museum is situated just across the famous Hundertwasserhaus on Lowengasse, Vienna. It features the world of forgers and fakers.
Among the fake art works being displayed are those of Klimt, Rembrandt and Matisse which were created by forgers. Other items on display are the forged diary pages believed to have been written by Adolf Hitler.
In this Museum of Art Fakes, visitors will learn about forgery in the arts and the different types of fakery.
Museum of Contraception and Abortion
Established in 2003, this museum in Vienna was the brainchild of gynecologist Dr. Christian Fiala. The goal of Dr. Fiala was to educate visitors on the reality of contraception and its necessity.
The museum features a collection of contraceptive curios as well as several historical and strange forms of birth control. Some of the birth control forms showcased are considered lethal.