Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crimes

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Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crimes (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

S-21 was a secret prison operated by the Pol Pot regime in the capital city of Phnom Penh from mid-1975 through the end of 1978. Individuals accused of treason, along with their families, were brought to S-21 where they were photographed upon arrival. They were tortured until they confessed to whatever crime their captors charged them with, and then executed. The prisoners’ photographs and completed confessions formed dossiers that were submitted to Khmer Rouge authorities, so that proof of the elimination of “traitors” was established. Of the 14,200 people imprisoned at S-21, which held between 1,000 and 1,500 at any one time, only 7 are know to have survived. After Phnom Penh was liberated by the Vietnamese Army in 1979, S-21 was transformed into The Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide.

Alf also has a travelogue of the horrifying museum: “All of these are from the torture chamber run by Pol Pot in Cambodia. It was formerly a high school. I first visited it in 1991 and have a large number of photographs of the place that are no longer on public view. When we went there the place was still mined and we needed an armed guard. We were on our way to North Korea at the time. I will post some of the North Korean photos later….”

Vasa Museum

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Vasa Museum (Stockholm, Sweden)

On August 10, 1628, the Swedish warship The Vasa sank on its maiden voyage, killing 30-50 of the 150 sailors on board. The ship sank to its resting spot in the mud at the bottom of the Baltic Sea where it remained until it was discovered in 1956. The ship was miraculously intact, having been preserved by the mud and cold water, and was raised in 1961. (Archaeologists found the skeletons of 25 sailors during the salvage operation.) And you can see the Vasa today, in all its majestic glory, at the Vasa Museum. Paul gives it rave reviews: “If you’re ever in Stockholm, you MUST stop in at the Vasa Museum! After the ship sank, it lodged in the mud at the bottom of the harbor… and the mud somehow preserved it for hundreds of years. It’s been dug up now, and it is simply breathtaking. I don’t really know how to describe it, or why it’s so awesome, but it might very well be the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”

Merry Cemetery

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Merry Cemetery (Sapanta, Romania)

Per Wikipedia: “The Merry Cemetery is a cemetery in the village of Sapânta, Maramures county, Romania. It is famous for its colorful tombstones with native paintings describing, in an original and poetic manner, the persons that are buried there as well as scenes from their lives.” Looks like a fun place to visit if you’re ever in the area. Thanks to Ms Jukes for the suggestion.

Cemetery of the Capuchins

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Cemetery of the Capuchins (Rome, Italy)

Chris wrote to recommend this unbelievably beautiful chapel which is decorated with the bones of Capuchin Monks. As described in the website linked to the left: “The crypt is located just under Santa Maria della Concezione, a church commissioned by Pope Urban XIII in 1626. The pope’s brother, Cardinal Antonio Barberini, who was of the Capuchin order, in 1631 ordered the remains of thousands of Capuchin monks exhumed and transferred from the friary Via dei Lucchesi to the crypt. The crypt now contains the remains of 4,000 monks buried between 1500-1870, during which time the Papal States permitted burial in and under churches. The underground crypt is divided into five chapels lit only by dim natural light seeping in through cracks, and small fluorescent lamps which cast strange shadows.” Definitely a must-see when in Rome!

Capuchins’ Catacombs

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Capuchins’ Catacombs (Palermo, Italy)

In 1599, Capuchin monks made a shocking discovery while exhuming bodies from the catacombs of their monastery — many of the bodies had been naturally mummified. Following this discovery, the monks decided to mummify one of their own, and the Palermo townspeople soon joined in. Deceased members from all social classes were mummified and placed in these catacombs until the 1880s, when the practice of mummification was banned. But that didn’t stop the curious townspeople, as the last mummy was laid to rest here in 1920. As a result of this “mummification trend,” the catacombs of the Capuchin Monastery have become one of the largest, and most eerie, collections of mummified bodies in the world.
Thanks to Carolyn for the suggestion.

 

Specola Museum

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Museo La Specola (Florence, Italy)

Suggested by John: “The Specola museum in Florence, Italy is a most fascinating museum. It is a natural history museum and is laid out starting with insects and mollusks, then birds, fish, mammals (all stuffed, sometimes very weirdly) and ending with the most stunning wax anatomical models of humans and their parts. There is a book published by Taschen called: Encyclopaedia Anatomica. If you ever find yourself in Florence, I strongly advise you go there. It’s near the Pitti Palace.”

House of Terror

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House of Terror (Budapest, Hungary)

mattsochoki writes to recommend this site: “I found an article about this place which is a museum in Budapest to the communist secret police, it was also their former headquarters. The real treat is that I did some searching and found the official website for the place. [There are] some really interesting photos of the inside of this place. I highly recommend checking it out. I found it incredibly interesting that they not only acknowledged the communist secret police but made a whole museum.”

Rick Steves has an excellent article about this site, which includes the following fascinating info: “Budapest has recently opened one of the most powerful museums in Europe. Featuring the grim decades of Nazi and Communist repression, the museum is the former headquarters for the secret police of both the Nazi and Communist governments. The building’s awning has the word TERROR cut out of it, and when the sun projects through these letters, it symbolizes the terror which was projected onto the Hungarian people for fifty years. After allying themselves with Hitler to save their own skins (and their Jewish population), Hungary was overtaken by the Nazi-affiliated Arrowcross in the waning days of World War II. Arrowcross members did their best to exterminate Budapest’s Jews. They killed Jews one-by-one in the streets, and were known to tie several victims together, shoot one of them, and throw him into the freezing Danube—dragging the others in with him. They executed hundreds in the basement of this building.”

Medieval Crime Museum

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Medieval Crime Museum (Rothenburg, Germany)

TandoMando highly recommends this site: “If anyone gets to the medieval walled town of Rotenburg ob der Tauber, in the Rhine valley, I highly recommend the museum of torture and death! It’s located at the far end of the entrance to the city. They have all the standard medieval torture devices like iron maidens, stretching racks, large metal hoods worn for various transgressions, for all manner of punishment meted out way back in the day. Some were positively bizarre, including one that was basically a table to which the victim was tied, and had a spike that went in the anus, forced into the body so far it resulted in death.” Sounds like my cup o’ tea!