This week, we're launching Gothamist's travel content, Gothamist Getaways. Four times a year, we'll have a week of posts featuring looks at travel, food, products and tips, near and far, for making your trips more pleasurable. So enjoy and let us know if you have any hints for us—email travel@gothamist.com.
New York City is getting its first museum of oddities. The Morbid Anatomy Museum opens in the Gowanus on June 6th, with an exhibit on Walter Potter, a 19th century English taxidermist who ran a bizarre museum in rural England. But you don't have to wait until June to visit a museum packed with unusual collections. We asked the museum's creative director, Joanna Ebenstein, her favorite picks for oddity museums around the world.
Before you pack your bags to travel around Europe to visit these museums, if you'd like a sneak peak at the Morbid Anatomy Museum, they're hosting a free event on Saturday April 26th at 8pm to celebrate the launch of the Morbid Anatomy Anthology.
Pitt RiversLocated at Oxford University, this English museum’s archeological and anthropological collections include teeth from Borneo skull trophies. Ebenstein claims Pitt Rivers "Might be the best museum in the world, and I'd like to spend the rest of my life there."
Le Musée Fragonard Head to Paris to visit this museum housed at one of the world's oldest veterinary schools. The Fragonard Museum has a display of écorchés, which are 18th century flayed cadavers.
Kunstkamera In St. Petersburg, Russia, Kunstkamera, also known as the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, was founded by Peter the Great and houses his collection of curiosities. Ebenstein notes the museum has "the most special collection of human remains," including those from Dutch anatomist Frederik Ruysch.
Wellcome Collection This London Museum, which refers to itself as the "free destination for the incurably curious" houses early 20th century pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome collection of shrunken heads, glass eyes, prosthetic limbs and much more. Ebenstein says Wellcome "is the closest thing to Morbid Anatomy's spiritual home." She also adds, "The temporary exhibitions they do--on such topics as skin, wax anatomical models, drugs, and dirt--are brilliant, provocative, and visually rich.”
La Specola Museum An 18th century medical museum in Florence, Italy. Ebenstein highlighted the museum's Anatomical Venus, a life sized wax woman with real hair displayed in Venetian glass and rosewood case.
Alison Lowenstein, Gothamist Getaways editor, is the author of NYC guidebooks, and travel articles for National Geographic Traveler, Newsday, NY Daily News, Travelandleisure.com, etc. When she isn’t planning trips, she enjoys jogging around the streets of NYC. Despite her athletic pursuits, her favorite food is the donut. You can find her at Twitter, @cityweekendsnyc.
