50 Museums to Blow Your Mind

Book excerpt: Thank the stars for the world's eccentric collectors; hoarders of objects beautiful, strange or downright odd. It is these documentors of the great and trivial - who want to show us all something wonderful about their collections and share the insights into humankind each of them illuminates - who have created the most fascinating, wonderful and precious museums the planet has to offer. Boggle at the enormity of space, get nostalgic at childhood memories or be dumbstruck by the International Museum of Toilets... Whether you're a history buff, tech-head or have an inexplicable fascination with clowns, you'll find world-class collections here to pique your interest. Never drag your heels around a dull museum again! Then & now // History museums Acropolis Museum // Greece British Museum // UK Forbidden City // China Goethe House & Goethe Museum // Germany Imperial War Museum // UK Museum of Alchemists & Magicians of Old Prague // Czech Republic Museum of Mummies of Guanajuato // Mexico National Museum of Anthropology // Mexico Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret // UK Prison Gate Museum // The Netherlands Sir John Soane's Museum // UK Styrian Armoury // Austria Torture Museum // The Netherlands Vasa Museum // Sweden Viking Ship Museum // Norway Whitney Plantation // USA The world around us // Natural history museums Kunstkamera // Russia 6 Messner Mountain Museum // Italy Sarawak State Museum // Malaysia Smithsonian Institution // USA Human creativity // Art & culture museums American Classic Arcade Museum // USA Belgian Brewers Museum // Belgium Burlesque Hall of Fame // USA Coffee Museum // Brazil Erawan Museum // Thailand Ghibli Museum // Japan Grammy Museum // USA The Green Vault // Germany Museum of Childhood // UK Musical Instruments Museum // USA Soumaya Museum // Mexico Vodka Museum // Russia Things that go // Science & technology museums Bicycle Museum of America // USA Big Hole & Open Mine Museum // South Africa Exploratorium // USA National Maritime Museum // France National Rail Museum // UK New Mexico Museum of Space History // USA New York City Fire Museum // USA Pencil Museum // UK Porsche Museum // Germany Sewer Museum // France Sulabh International Museum of Toilets // India Peculiar passions // Quirky museums Avanos Hair Museum // Turkey Clown Hall of Fame & Research Centre // USA Cupnoodles Museum // Japan Gopher Hole Museum // Canada International Cryptozoology Museum // USA Museum of Broken Relationships // Croatia Watermelon Museum // China About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world’s number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveler since 1973. Over the past four decades, we’ve printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travelers. You’ll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.