A small museum in the centre of Zagreb hides a dreaded secret.
You tried to mend your broken heart at the Museum of Broken Relationships. You had your mind tricked in the Museum of Illusions. This time prepare to experience terror seeping through your bones as you explore the dark chambers of the Museum of Torture.
70 blood-chilling displays
In the summer of 2015 the already bustling museum scene in Zagreb welcomed its newest addition. The Museum of Torture is an entirely original asset to Zagreb is culture hub which in only a few months managed to become one of the capital is most popular attractions.
The museum was established on the basis of grim threads that hold the history of human kind together. With its matchless collection of a range of instruments of torture and execution that have been in use since the ancient times the museum manages to successfully explore the imaginative, although also slightly terrifying side of the human mind.
Among 70 bone-chilling exhibits, visitors have the opportunity to see a full-scale replica of the guillotine that many more and less prominent figures lost their heads over throughout the centuries. There is also the pendulum, a swinging blade that with each sweep descends lower, as well as iron maiden – no, not the band, but one of the most brutal instruments of torture from the Middle Ages.
Experience the dread
The small museum is cloaked in a veil of darkness, interrupted by pockets of light highlighting torture devices. Each visitor receives a multimedia guide which offers all information available for every item on display, on five different languages. To really set the mood, the background is painted with blood-chilling sound effects of poor souls being tortured.
Although perhaps a bit too much for the faint-hearted, the Museum of Torture is an interesting and surprisingly interactive way to learn about the cruel side of the mankind, but also the possibilities when its imaginative abilities are steered in the right direction.
Final thoughts? We are just happy the age of inquisition and witch hunts are over.
Author: P.Š.
Photo Credit: (1) Gora100, (2) Tortureum
