Every country has many museums of art, science, history and the like and many of them are well-known. But, thanks to eccentric interests, local history or economy and the like, most countries also have a raft of small museums that cover a surprising variety of interests.
And today, it’s time to look at some of the more unusual offerings that Spain has for those who want a break from the Prado and the Guggenheim and other A-list contenders.
For instance, while every major art museum has nudes, either sculpted or painted, it’s unlikely that any of them can match Catalonia’s Can Ginebreda, whose ‘erotic forest’ which features the work of sculptor Xicu Cabanyes. Little is left to the imagination…
But if stone sex leaves you cold, there’s surely something for everyone on the list. In Guadalest, in Valencia there’s a museum filled with salt-and-pepper shakers. Ratoncito Perez, Spain’s equivalent of the Tooth Fairy has his own museum in Madrid.
On the grim side, In Santilla del Mar there’s the ever-popular museum of torture instruments, guillotines and chastity belts. And Zugarramundi in Navarre there’s a museum showing the history of the Basque Witch Trials of the Spanish Inquisition (Note to Monty Python fans: In those days everyone DID expect the Spanish Inquisition). Perhaps the logical follow-on to those two would be the Museum of Funeral Carriages in Barcelona.
On a more upbeat note, in Villaconejos, near Madrid, there is a museum of melons, with exhibits exploring the generations-long history of melons and melon farmers in the area. It even has an autumn melon festival each year.
Two more before we go: Ciudad Rodrigo in Salamanca has a museum of urinals and chamber pots, gifted to the city in the will of a rather obsessed landlord who collected them all. And, last but not least, down the road from the salt-and-pepper shakers there’s a microminiature museum, featuring a flea dressed as a bullfighter, the Statue of Liberty in the eye of a needle and entire Goya paintings reproduced on a grain of rice.
Title Image: Malopez21/Wikimedia
