Listing of Museums.

11 Museums of Limited Appeal

1. THE MUSEUM OF BAD ART (580 High St, Dedham, MA, USA; www.glyphs.com/moba/)
Founded in 1993, MOBA is located in the basement of the Dedham Community Theater eight miles south of Boston. Its motto is `Art too bad to be ignored'. Although the bulk of the collection has been acquired at thrift shops, many of the finest pieces were fished out of rubbish bins.

2. STRIPTEASE MUSEUM (29053 Wild Road, Helendale, CA, USA; www.exoticworldusa.org/)
Officially titled Exotic World Burlesque Hall of Fame and Museum, it is the domain of former exotic dancer Dixie Evans, whose speciality was imitating Marilyn Monroe. Items on display include breakaway sequined gowns, tasselled panties, and Gypsy Rose Lee's black velvet shoulder cape.

3. THE MÜTTER MUSEUM (College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 19 South 22nd St, Philadelphia, PA, USA; www.collphyphil.org/muttpg1.shtml)
This stunning collection of medical oddities and instruments includes the Chevalier Jackson collection of foreign bodies removed from the lungs and bronchi, the Sappey collection of mercury-filled lymphaticus, the B. C. Hirot pelvis collection, and medical tools from Pompeii. Individual items include Florence Nightingale's sewing kit; the joined liver of Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins; bladder stones removed from US Chief Justice John Marshall; a piece of John Wilkes Booth's thorax; a wax model of a six-inch horn projecting from a woman's forehead; a cheek retractor used in a secret operation on President Grover Cleveland, as well as the cancerous tumour that was removed from his left upper jaw.

4. THE DOG COLLAR MUSEUM (Leeds Castle, Maidstone, Kent, ME17 1PL, United Kingdom; http://www.leeds-castle.com/content/visiting_the_castle/dog_collar_museum/dog_collar_museum.html)
Housed in the Gate Tower of Leeds Castle, the museum features medieval and ornamental dog collars spanning four centuries. Included are numerous spiked collars designed for dogs used in hunting and bull- and bear-baiting.

5. KIM IL-SUNG GIFT MUSEUM (Mount Myohyang, North Korea)
Housed in a 120-room, six-storey temple north of Pyongyang, the museum is home to 90,000 gifts that have been given to Kim Il-Sung, the late dictator of Communist North Korea and to his son, Kim Jong Il, the current dictator. Included are Nicolae Ceausescu's gift of a bear's head mounted on a blood-red cushion, a Polish machine gun, and a rubber ashtray from China's Hwabei Tyre factory. Twenty rooms are devoted to gifts given to Kim's son, Kim Jong-Il, including an inlaid pearl and abalone box from the Ayatollah Khomeini and a pen set from the chairman of the Journalist Association of Kuwait.

6. ANTIQUE VIBRATOR MUSEUM (603 Valencia, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA; http://www.goodvibes.com/museum.html)
The museum has collected more than 100 vibrators going back to 1869. Antique models include a hand-crafted wooden vibrator that works like an egg-beater and another that advertises `Health, Vigour and Beauty' to users. The museum's collection is displayed in Good Vibrations, a sex-toy emporium.

7. AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OTOLARYNGOLOGY MUSEUM (One Prince St, Alexandria, VA 22314-3357, USA; http://www.entnet.org/museum/index.cfm)
Devoted to the world of head and neck surgery, the museum displays special exhibits dealing with such topics as the history of the hearing aid and the evolution of tracheotomies. The diseases of famous people are examined, including Oscar Wilde's ear infections and Johannes Brahms's sleep apnoea. The giftshop sells holiday decorations in the shape of ear trumpets.

8. SULABH INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM OF TOILETS (Mahavir Enclave, Palm Dabri Marg, New Delhi, India; www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org)
The Sulabh International Social Service Organization was created to bring inexpensive but environmentally safe sanitation to poor, rural areas. On the grounds of their headquarters, they have built an indoor and outdoor museum that presents the history of toilets around the world. One panel reprints poetry relating to toilets and another gives examples of toilet humour from around the world.

9. BRITISH LAWNMOWER MUSEUM (106-114 Shakespeare Street, Southport, Lancashire, PR8 5AJ, United Kingdom)
The museum includes 400 vintage and experimental lawnmowers, highlighting the best of British technological ingenuity. Of particular interest are the 1921 ATCO Standard 9 Blade, a solar-powered robot mower, and unusually fast or expensive mowers.

10. MARIKINA CITY FOOTWEAR MUSEUM (Manila, Philippines)
Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos, the world's most notorious shoe collector, donated the collection that made possible the opening of this footwear museum on Feb. 16, 2001. The displays at the museum include several hundred of the pairs of shoes left behind at the presidential palace when Imelda and her husband Ferdinand fled the country in disgrace in 1986. Other shoes at the museum were donated by local politicians and film stars.

11. ICELANDIC PHALLOLOGICAL MUSEUM (Laugavegur 24, Reykjavik, Iceland)
The world's only museum for genitalia, the Icelandic Phallological Museum contains more than 100 preserved penises, as well as specimens that have been pressed into service as purses, walking sticks and pepper pots. The museum's holdings represent nearly all of Iceland's land and sea mammals, with the 23 whale species making for the most impressive viewing. As yet, the museum has no human specimen, but an elderly man has pledged his privates in a legally-binding letter of donation.

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10 Strange and Obscure American Museums.

1. The SPAM® Museum

Outside the Spam Museum. (Image Credit: jimmywayne22 [Flickr])

The Great Wall of Spam (Image Credit: the queen of subtle [Flickr])

If the on-site "wall of SPAM" is any indication, a tour through the SPAM Museum in Austin, Minn., is guaranteed fun for the whole canned-pork-loving family. SPAM’s parent company, Hormel Foods, opened the establishment in 2001 to the tune of almost 5,000 cans of SPAM.

One of the main attractions is a scale model of a SPAM plant, where visitors can don white coats and hairnets while pretending to produce America’s favorite tinned meat. But vacationers be warned: In addition to major holidays, the museum will be closed on June 16 to prepare for the much hoopla-ed SPAM Museum Jam 2006.

2. National Museum of Funeral History

It’s pretty hard to argue with the motto "Any Day Above Ground is a Good One." So goes the backhanded optimism of the National Museum of Funeral History, a Houston facility that opened in 1992.

Visitors are treated to exhibit that include a Civil War embalming display and a replica of a turn-of-the-century casket factory. In addition, the museum boasts an exhibit of "fantasy coffins" designed by Ghanaian artist Kane Quaye. These moribund masterpieces include a casket shaped like a chicken, a Mercedes-Benz, a shallot, and an outboard motor. According to Quaye, his creations are based on the dreams and last wishes of his clients, which - let’s be honest -really makes you wonder about the guy buried in the shallot.

3. The Hobo Museum

If you’re bumming around but looking for a good time, be sure to take a load off in Britt, Iowa, at The Hobo Museum, which details the history and culture of tramps. Bear in mind, though, that the museum kind of, well, slacks on hours and is only open to the public during the annual Hobo Convention.

Luckily, tours can be arranged by appointment any time of year. Of course, if you’re interested in the Hobo Convention, lodging is available all over the area, but it’s a safe bet that most of your compatriots will be resting their floppy hats at the "hobo jungle," located by the railroad tracks. Both the event and the museum are operated by the Hobo Foundation, which - incidentally - also oversees the nearby Hobo Cemetery, where those who have "caught the westbound" are laid to rest.

4. The Mütter Museum

Originally, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia erected the Mütter Museum as a creative way to inform medical students and practicing physicians about some of the more unusual medical phenomena. (You know, babies with two heads, that sort of thing.) But today, it primarily serves as a popular spot for anyone interested in the grotesque.

There, you’ll find the world’s largest colon, removed from a man who died - not surprisingly - of constipation. Also on display: an OB-GYN instrument collection, thousands of fluid-preserved anatomical and pathological specimens, and a large wall dedicated entirely to swallowed objects.

5. The Barnum Museum

What better way to honor "Greatest Show on Eart" founder PT Barnum than with a mediocre museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut? Some visitors will appreciate the museum’s ridiculously detailed miniature model of a five-ring circus. But only circus freaks (and by that we mean "enthusiasts") will get a kick out of seeing a stale piece of cake from the wedding of Barnum’s 40-inch tall sidekick, General Tom Thumb.

6. The Conspiracy Museum

There’s more than one theory about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, so why not have more than one museum devoted to it as well? Most JFK buffs are familiar with the Sixth Floor Museum housed in the former Texas School Book Depository, which recounts all those boring "mainstream" details of the late president’s life leading up to his death at the hands of Lee Harvey Oswald.

But just down the street, the Conspiracy Museum [wiki | image] offers fodder for those less apt to buy into the Man’s propaganda. For the most part, the museum specializes in showing of the Zapruder film and explanations of contrary assassination theories, including the other gunmen on the grassy knoll and possible mafia involvement.

[Note: the museum seems to have been closed as of Dec 2006]

7. The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices

Take two trips to the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices and call us when you’ve lost all faith in the medical profession. Thanks to curator Bob McCoy (who recently donated the colection to the Science Museum of Minnesota), those in search of history’s quack science can find what they’re looking for in the St. Paul tourist attraction, whether it’s a collection of 19th-century phrenology machines or some 1970s breast enlargers. If you make the trip, be sure to check out the 1930s McGregor Rejuvenator. This clever device required patrons to enclose their bodies, sans head, in a large tube where they were pounded with magnetic and radio waves in attempts to reverse the aging process.

8. Cook’s Natural Science Museum

What began as a training facility for Cook’s Pest Control exterminators blossomed into one of the few museums in the country willing to tell the tale of the pest. At Cook’s Natural Science Museum in Decatur, Ala., visitors can learn everything they ever wanted to know about rats, cockroaches, mice, spiders, and termites … all for free. And while most people would rather step on the live specimens than learn about them, museum exhibits such as the crowd-pleasing Pest of the Month keep reeling in patrons.

9. Vent Haven Ventriloquist Museum

So, what do you get when you combine the loneliness of a pet cemetery with the creepy flair of vaudeville? The Vent Haven Ventriloquist Museum, of course - where dummies go to die.

The Fort Mitchell, Ky., museum was the brainchild of the late William Shakespeare Berger, who founded the site as a home for retired wooden puppets. In fact, he collected figures from some of the country’s most famous ventriloquist acts. And with more than 700 dummies stacked from floor to ceiling, you’re bound to feel like you’re stuck inside a 1970s horror flick - albeit a really good one. But sadly, when Berger gave the tour, you could totally tell his mouth was moving.

10. The Trash Museum

The Trash-o-saurus at the CRRA Trash Museum

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World's best Museums

Cleveland Museum of Arts US.

The Detroit Institute of Arts: US. Check out the Ancient Arts collection and Frankenthaler's "The Bay".

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco: US. Huge data base of images, more than 70,000. The site features also works by Rodin and Rembrandt.

Galleria Delgi Uffizi: Italy. Excellent quality pictures are shown for top Italian artists' works like Botticelli, Veronse, and Giorgione.

Hermitage Museum: Russia. The site contains information and excellent quality images of the best 2000 holdings in the museum that contains more than three millions of the world's masterpieces.

Musee du Louvre: France, The best museum I have visited. The website offers you virtual tours, without the crowd that almost chocked me in 1997, to review some of the best works in the world. From the Mona Lisa to The Raft of Medusa, from Venus de Milo to the Victory of Samothrace, the site is definitely worth your visit.

Museo Nacional del Prado: Spain. Modest but intelligently chosen collection of superb art work is shown. The Site also offers you the chance to send unique greeting cards.

National Gallery of Art: US. Brilliant site with the most elegant look of the art work where the background pages are designed to resemble the texture of the presented art work. Worth your visit.