Seven Strange Museums to Visit in Europe

Gelato Museum Carpigiani, Bologna

Bologna, Italy’s Gelato Museum Carpigiani educates visitors on the origins of gelato from the 11th century to today.

The museum also includes a tasting area, where for €3 you can try any one of the museum’s gelatos or sorbets. For more information visit www.gelatomuseum.com/en.

Devil’s Museum, Kaunas

In Kaunas, Lithuania, this museum has sold its soul to the Devil. The building houses more than 2,000 different interpretations of the Devil, collected by local artist Antanas Žmuidzinavičius.

Some of the representations are cute stuffed animals or sculptures, while others are complex social and political statements – such as statues of Hitler and Stalin as devils, performing the dance of death.

For more information, visit www.lithuania.travel/en.

Mini Bottle Gallery, Oslo

Oslo, Norway’s Mini Bottle Gallery is exactly what it sounds like – a museum full of a collection of tiny bottles. The museum contains more than 53,000 of these, containing a variety of substances.

The museum also contains a ‘Horror Room’ downstairs, accessible only via an actual slide. For more information, visit www.minibottlegallery.com.

Neon Muzeum, Warsaw

In 2005, David Hill and Ilona Karwinska turned their collection of neon signs into a museum in Warsaw, Poland. They named it the Neon Muzeum, and continued adding to their collection over the course of the last decade. Since then, the museum has grown to play host to hundreds of neon signs and has now earned the accolade of being the largest collection of such signs anywhere in Europe.

For more information, visit www.neonmuzeum.org.

Currywurst Museum, Berlin

The Currywurst Museum in Berlin, Germany pays tribute to the city’s favorite street snack. There are sofas shaped like sausages, audio players shaped like ketchup bottles, and interactive displays that teach visitors about the history of currywurst from its invention in the 1940s to present day.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to try making currywurst and to explore the museums’ ‘spice chamber’. For more information, visit www.currywurstmuseum.com/en.

Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum, Guadalest

The Museo de Saleros and Pimenteros in Guadalest, Spain, has been around for 30 years and contains a good portion of archaeologist Andrea Ludden’s collection of salt and pepper shakers.

Ludden and her husband also own a salt and pepper shaker museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, which they opened in 2001, where the rest of the couple’s 20,000 shakers are housed.

The shakers include depictions of beloved cartoon characters, musicians like the Beatles, and animals such as kangaroos.

For more information, visit www.en.comunitatvalenciana.com.

Museo Atlantico, Lanzarote

Located off the coast of Lanzarote, Museo Atlantico is Europe’s first underwater museum. Visitors will don their snorkels and flippers and explore this collection of human sculptures by British artist Jason deCaires Taylor. He also created the statues for the underwater museum off the coast of Cancun.

The sculptures are designed to house underwater life and encourage animals to interact with them. The hope for Museo Atlantico is that it will eventually be expanded to include more than 300 sculptures.For more information, visit www.underwatermuseumlanzarote.com/en.