Unusual Museums Around the World

Museums are not limited to classic art. Today there are museums for everything, in big tourist cities or small towns off the beaten track. Anyone travelling to a new destination should look up unusual museums in the area for a fun look at the quirky, strange, or unique.

Take BabyLand General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia, home of the Cabbage Patch dolls, for example. A cutesy toyland, replete with a magic crystal tree and a plethora of the popular fad item of the 1980s, this clinic-turned-museum still delights children and collectors alike with its earnest sweetness. Located in the North Georgia Mountains, it also affords a pleasant car trip.

People usually associate museums with art, but most would be surprised to learn there is a Museum of Bad Art, located in Boston, Massachusetts. Since 1994, art lovers and art haters alike have been able to enjoy exceptionally horrid masterpieces submitted by people around the world. For people visiting Beantown who have had enough of the same old art galleries, MOMA is a stunning showcase of bizarre, crude, and just plain bad attempts at fine art.

Pez dispensers have been a beloved novelty candy item since 1927. It was not until 1952, however, that the dispensers featured cartoon heads that tip back and pop out the candy. The Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia, just a ten minute drive from the San Francisco International Airport, is dedicated to the over 500 Pez dispensers created in the last 60 years. Bring a sweet tooth.

Laughter is the best medicine, people always say. The Harlekinaum, or Laughter, Museum in Wiesbaden, Germany, tries its hardest to make every visitor crack up. Filled with amusing objects and sight gags, the Laughter Museum is an unusual diversion sure to relax anyone stressed out from travel.

Houston, Texas, boasts the National Museum of Funeral History, a beyond average display of everything related to death and funeral rites. Not entirely grim and macabre, its exhibits look at the varying burial rituals over the centuries and unusual memorabilia from the funerals of well-known figures like Elvis and Martin Luther King, Jr.

For matters both private and universal, there is the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets in New Delhi, India. Finally, the history and evolution of the porcelain throne gets the attention it deserves. Visitors should remember that the artefacts, some of them ancient pieces from all corners of the globe, are for display purposes only.

Even trash gets its own museum. The Garbage Museum in Stratford, Connecticut, shows guests what goes on in compost piles and informs them of the benefits of recycling. The main attraction, though, is the Trash-o-saurus, a life-size dinosaur created from one ton of garbage, the amount of refuse the average person produces each year.

Unusual museums give travellers the opportunity to see something truly unique and extraordinary. It is the perfect chance to take a break from the regular tourist attractions and discover something entirely new. Stumbling upon unfamiliar restaurants, shops, and sights is another plus. Depending on how you pay for your trip too, you could benefit from a number of membership rewards, from those such as a platinum card, which offer rewards on the likes of shopping, dining, travel or entertainment.