Icelandic Phallological Museum

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Hið Íslenzka Reðasafn
Icelandic Phallological Museum, Reykjavík.JPG
Showroom in Reykjavík
Data
place 1997–2004: Reykjavík
2004–2012: Húsavík
2012– 0000: Reykjavík
Art
Phallological Museum
opening 1997
Number of visitors (annually) 11,000
management
1997–2012: Sigurður Hjartarson
2012– 0000: Hjörtur Gísli Sigurðsson
Website

The Icelandic Phallological Museum (Icelandic: Hið Íslenzka Reðasafn) in Reykjavík, Iceland, houses the world's largest exhibition of penises and penis parts. The collection of 280 specimens from 93 animal species includes 55 penises from whales, 36 from seals and 118 from land mammals, including supposedly huldufólk (Icelandic elves) and trolls. In July 2011, the museum received its first human penis, one of four promised by potential donors. Its detachment from the donor's body did not go according to plan and it was reduced to a gray-brown, shriveled mass that was placed in a glass of formalin. The museum is still looking for "a younger and a bigger and better" one.

Founded in 1997 by the now retired teacher Sigurður Hjartarson and now run by his son Hjörtur Gísli Sigurðsson, the museum arose out of an interest in penises that began in Sigurður's childhood when he got a cattle whip from a bull penis. He obtains the organs of Icelandic animals from sources across the country, from the 170 cm front tip of a blue whale penis to the 2 mm baculum of a hamster that can only be seen with a magnifying glass. The museum claims that its collection includes the penises of elves and trolls, but since Icelandic folklore depicts such creatures as invisible, they cannot be seen. The collection also includes phallic arts and crafts such as lampshades made from bulls scrotums.

The museum has become a popular tourist attraction with thousands of visitors annually and has garnered international media attention, including the Canadian documentary The Final Member, which documents the museum's search for a human penis. In line with its mission statement, the museum wants to "enable the individual to deal seriously with the field of phallology in an organized, scientific manner".

history

The museum's founder, Sigurður Hjartarson, was a teacher and principal for 37 years and taught history and Spanish at Hamrahlid College in Reykjavík for the last 26 years before retiring. As a child he owned an ox pizzle, which was given to him as a cattle whip. He started collecting penises after a friend heard the story of the bull's penis in 1974 and gave him four new ones, three of which Sigurður passed on to friends. Walpenisse acquaintances at whaling stations also brought him, and the collection grew from there through donations and purchases from various sources across Iceland.

The organs of the farm animals came from slaughterhouses, while the fishermen obtained those of the pinnipeds and the smaller whales. The penises of the larger whales came from commercial whaling stations, although that source dried up after the International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling around the world in 1986. Sigurður has continued to collect walpenises by harvesting them from the 12-16 whales that strand on the Icelandic coast each year. He was also given the penis of a polar bear that was shot by fishermen who saw the animal drifting on drift ice off the Westfjords.

Sigurður was supported by his family, but not without the occasional embarrassment. His daughter Þorgerður remembers being sent to a slaughterhouse to pick up a specimen, but just as the workers were taking a lunch break: "Someone asked, 'What's in the basket?' I had to say, 'I'm going to pick up a frozen goat penis.' After that I said, 'I'll never pick anything up for you again.' ”According to Sigurdur, collecting penises is like collecting other things. "You can never stop, you can never catch up, you can always get a new one, a better one."

The collection was initially housed in Sigurður's office at the college until he retired from teaching. He chose to exhibit it publicly in Reykjavík as a hobby rather than a job and received a grant of ISK 200,000 from the city council to help open the museum in August 1997. Up until 2003, there were 5,200 visitors a year, 4,200 of them from abroad. Sigurður offered the museum for sale in 2003, but also offered it as a gift to the city of Reykjavík. However, he did not succeed in obtaining financial support from the state or the city. When he retired in 2004, he could no longer afford to rent the museum premises.

After his retirement, he moved his collection to Húsavík, a fishing village with around 2,200 inhabitants, 480 km northeast of the capital. The museum was housed in a small building, a former restaurant, marked with a huge wooden penis and a stone phallus in the street. The villagers were initially skeptical of the newcomer but accepted it when they were convinced that the museum was not pornographic.

In 2012 he passed the collection on to his son Hjörtur Gísli Sigurðsson (described by Slate as "the only hereditary penis museum operator in the world"). It has been moved from Húsavík to Reykjavík's main shopping street, Laugavegur 116. The research museum is now located at its former location in Húsavík. An offer from a wealthy German to buy the museum for 30 million ISK and a proposal to move it to the UK were turned down as Hjörtur insists that "the museum must remain in Iceland". He intends to keep getting new penises because "you can always get a better, newer one ... a bigger size or a better shape, you know?"

According to Icelandic anthropologist Sigurjón Baldur Hafsteinsson, Icelanders' tolerance of the museum is an indicator of how Icelandic society has changed since the 1990s when a newly elected neoliberal government promoted a more open view of entertainment, creativity and tourism, which " let new ideas emerge publicly ". He has described the importance of the museum's role in Icelandic culture in a book, Phallological Museum ( ISBN 9783643904706 , OCLC 888575994).

collection

According to the museum's website, the collection includes 280 specimens from 93 species. They range from some of the largest to some of the smallest penises in the wildlife. Its largest exhibit is part of the 170 cm long and 70 kg heavy penis of a blue whale, which Iceland Review has called the "real Moby Dick". The specimen is only the tip, since the entire organ, if intact, would have been about 5 m long and about 350-450 kg. A hamster's baculum, only 2 mm long, is the smallest part of the collection and you need a magnifying glass. Sigurður described the collection as the product of "37 years of penis collecting". "Somebody had to do it."

The museum also has a "folklore section" with mythological penises; the online catalog contains specimens of Elves, Trolls, Kelpien and "The Nasty Ghost of Snæfell". Sigurður says that the elf's penis, described in the museum's catalog as "unusually large and old", is one of his favorites. It cannot be seen as Icelandic folklore says that elves and trolls are invisible. Folkloric penises also include those of an Aquarius, a one-legged, one-armed, and one-eyed monster called a "stand-moan", an "enriching beach mouse" (supposed to "pull money out of the sea to enrich its owner"), and a Icelandic Santa Claus who was found dead at the foot of a mountain in 1985 and whose penis was given to the museum by a former Reykjavík mayor.

The museum's website states that it "enables individuals to study the field of phallology in earnest in an organized, scientific manner", an area that has so far only been "a frontier area in other academic disciplines such as history, art, psychology , Literature and other artistic fields such as music and ballet "was duly highlighted. "The museum aims to collect penile samples from every mammal in Iceland. It also displays phallic works of art and penis-related objects, or" phallobilia "like lampshades made from bulls' scrotums. Other exhibits range from an 18th century engraving depicting the circumcision of Christ towards a plastic penis pacifier from the 20th century ". Most of the collection has been donated and the only purchase so far has been an elephant penis three feet long. The penises are either preserved in formaldehyde and displayed in jars, or dried and hung or mounted on the walls of the museum.

Sigurður has used a variety of techniques to preserve the penises, including preservation in formaldehyde, pickling, drying, filling and salting. A particularly large penis from a bull was turned into a walking stick. Many of the museum's exhibits are illuminated with Sigurður lamps made from ram testicles. Sigurður has also carved wooden phalluses that adorn various items around the museum and owns a bow tie with phallic images that he wears on special occasions.

Josh Schonwald of Salon.com described his impressions of the museum when he visited in 1998: "They hung on the walls, filled with jugs, exhibited with curatorial love - dried penises, penises embalmed in formaldehyde, massive penises like hunting trophies. A tanned bull penis There were wrinkled, wrinkled penises from reindeer, fox, mink, and rats. There were seal and walrus penises with stiff penis bones that kept them erect. There was the big penis - a three foot blue whale penis (the one Oars for a canoe). "

The museum is open daily and, through July 2011, attracted up to 11,000 visitors annually. Sixty percent of the museum's goers are women, but according to the authors of the Rough Guide to Iceland who mention the museum, "it makes the tourist bureau blush with embarrassment." The museum's guest book contains entries like "I've never seen so many penises and went to boarding school!" (from a New Zealand visitor), "They're bigger in the USA" (from someone in Wisconsin) and "Is there a vagina museum?" At this point Sigurður said, "I only collect the male organ. Someone else has to do the other job. I would be interested to know how you would get it. I think vaginas are better alive." (There used to be a pop-up museum called "Museum of Vaginal Imagination" in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.)

For many years the museum was looking for a human penis. Sigurður could receive human testicles and a foreskin from two different donors; the foreskin was donated by the Icelandic National Hospital after an emergency circumcision. The museum also contains sculptures of 15 penises modeled on the Icelandic national handball team. Since the team won the silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the penises were made from a silver-plated material. Sigurður claims that although they are not placed in the same order as the people in the photo shown, "their wives would recognize them". According to Slate, these sculptures were created by Sigurður's daughter, Þorgerður Sigurðardóttir, and were based on her own experience rather than the team's knowledge. The team's goalkeeper denies that the sculptures are casts.

The museum has so far received pledges from four men - an Icelander, a German, an American and a British - to donate their penises. Canadian filmmaker Zach Math comments that American Tom Mitchell is "an ordinary guy, but he has this quirk where he sees his penis as a separate entity from his body - Elmo. He has this dream that it is the most famous penis." the world should be. " According to Sigurður, Mitchell wanted to have his penis cut off while he was still alive and then visit the museum. "Mitchell sent a replacement penis cast, along with photos of it dressed as Santa Claus and Abraham Lincoln. The donor also tattooed his penis with the Stars and Stripes to make him look more attractive, he says, "I always thought it would be really cool if my penis became the first real penis celebrity," and made him the star of his own comic book Elmo: Adventures of a Superhero Penis .

The Icelandic donor was a 95-year-old Akureyri man who is said to have been a womanizer in his youth and wanted to donate his penis to the museum to secure his "eternal fame". Sigurður said the donor remained active "both vertically and horizontally" even at the age of 95. However, the donor is said to be concerned that "his penis will shrink with age and that it will no longer be properly displayed." His penis was given priority over those of non-Icelandic donors, in accordance with the museum's mandate to display the organs of Icelandic mammals. Removing and preserving it was not an easy suggestion, as Sigurður explained: "The donor and the doctors agree that it must be taken while the body is warm. Then deflate and inflate. If it cools, nothing can be done. so the donor is eager to see that it is warm and treated with dignity. "

In January 2011, the Icelandic donor died and his penis was surgically removed so it could be added to the museum's collection. The penectomy was not entirely successful and left the penis as "a gray-brown, wrinkled mass". Sigurður: "I should have stretched it and sewed it at the back to keep it in a more or less normal position". Instead "it went straight into the formaldehyde". Although disappointed with the results, Sigurður was confident that "I will soon have a younger and bigger and better one". The most common reaction from visitors to the preserved human penis is "that it is very old, you know, a little shrunk, and the male members say, 'Oh, I hope mine won't look like this when I get old.' "Sigurður has considered donating his own penis to the museum when he dies, but said it depends on his wife:" If she dies first, my copy would go in here. If I die first, I can't tell. You could say no. "

American writer and actor Jonah Falcon, known for his impressively large penis, was invited by the museum through the Huffington Post to donate his penis after his death. In May 2014 it was announced that Falcon had accepted the proposal to organize an exhibition entitled "Jonas and the Whale" next to a sperm whale, based on the biblical story.

Movie

The museum is the subject of The Final Member, a film by Canadian documentary filmmakers Zach Math and Jonah Bekhor. He introduces Sigurður and his search for a human penis for the museum, tells the story of American and Icelandic donors, and examines the quasi-taboo nature of the museum's collection. Bekhor says, "I wouldn't say it's a Rorschach test, but depending on how you react to it, it says a lot about your relationship to this element of human anatomy. It's a really interesting phenomenon, and we are very much I'm excited to see how the audience will react. " The film premiered on May 1, 2012 at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Icelandic Phallological Museum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i At Iceland's Phallological Museum, size is everything . In: The Independent , July 21, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2011. 
  2. ↑ Khushwant Singh: Last but not the least . In: The Telegraph , July 16, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2011. 
  3. ↑ a b Alex Pielak: Museum in Iceland home to world's biggest collection of penises . In: Metro , July 11, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2011. 
  4. ^ What is the story behind the Icelandic Phallological Museum? , IcelandReview Online. May 31, 2010. Retrieved June 3, 2011. 
  5. ↑ a b c d Josh Schonwald: Show me yours , Salon.com. March 27, 2001. Retrieved June 3, 2011. 
  6. ^ A b c d Sarah Lyall: The Penises of the Icelandic Handball Team . In: Slate , August 8, 2012. Retrieved December 18, 2012. 
  7. ↑ a b c d Iva R. Skoch: Welcome to the world's largest penis collection , Salon.com. July 29, 2011. Retrieved August 1, 2011. 
  8. ↑ Members only at Iceland Phallological museum . May 18, 1999. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved June 1, 2012. 
  9. ↑ Andrés Jónsson: Björgum hinu íslenzka reðasafni (Icelandic) , politik.is. September 5, 2003. Retrieved June 3, 2011. 
  10. ↑ a b c d e Frauke Lüpke-Narberhaus: Penis Museum in Iceland: Who has the biggest? (German) . In: Der Spiegel , September 9, 2008. Retrieved June 3, 2011. 
  11. ↑ Ætlar að flytja Reðursafnið til Reykjavíkur (Icelandic) . In: Fréttablaðið , April 13, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2011. 
  12. ↑ Könnunarsögusafnið á Húsavík (Icelandic) . In: The Exploration Museum , November 1, 2013. 
  13. ↑ Hafnaði tugmilljónum í typpin (Icelandic) . In: Vísir , March 26, 2012. Retrieved May 27, 2012. 
  14. ^ A b Jamie Cummins: The erection collection , ABC Canberra. April 26, 2012. Retrieved May 27, 2012. 
  15. ^ Sigurjón Baldur Hafsteinsson . Academia.edu. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  16. ↑ a b c d e f g Bob Strong: Icelandic museum offers long and short of male organ . May 15, 2008. Retrieved June 3, 2011. 
  17. ^ A b Sigurjón Baldur Hafsteinsson: Globalized Members: The Icelandic Phallological Museum and Neoliberalism . 2009. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  18. ↑ a b Phallus.is - Catalog . Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  19. ↑ Phallus.is - The Museum . Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  20. ↑ a b c Jennifer Knoll: Penis museum stands out in frozen Iceland . In: Independent Online , March 20, 2002. Retrieved June 3, 2011. 
  21. ↑ Icelandic Phallological Museum . Retrieved June 24, 2012.
  22. ^ A b David Leffman, James Proctor: The Rough Guide to Iceland . Rough Guides, 2004, ISBN 978-1-84353-289-7 , p. 71.
  23. ↑ Ross Martin: A Life's Work: Penis Collector . Nerve.com. January 23, 2002. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved on December 19, 2012.
  24. ↑ See Museum Ruim1op10 ( Memento from June 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  25. ↑ Icelandic Penis Donor Passes Away , Iceland Review Online. January 16, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2011. 
  26. ^ Robert Bell: The Final Member - Directed by Jonah Bekhor & Zach Math . In: Exclaim! . Retrieved May 28, 2012.
  27. ↑ Linda Barnard: Hot Docs 2012: Icelandic penis museum's search for a human specimen . In: The Toronto Star , April 29, 2012. Archived from the original on August 6, 2012. Retrieved on May 27, 2012. 
  28. ^ Julie Beck: The Anatomy of Iceland's Penis Museum . In: The Atlantic , June 9, 2014. Retrieved April 8, 2016. 
  29. ↑ Buck Wolf: Jonah Falcon To Become Penis Museum's Most Outstanding Member . In: The Huffington Post , May 2, 2014. Retrieved April 8, 2016. 
  30. ↑ Victoria Ahern: 'The Final Member' confronts taboo topic at Iceland's penis museum . April 30, 2012. Retrieved May 27, 2012. 

Coordinates: 64 ° 8 ′ 34.83 "  N , 21 ° 54 ′ 56.18"  W.