CZECH REPUBLIC: First ever museum dedicated to sexual gadgets has opened in Prague

Record ID: 334898

  • Title: CZECH REPUBLIC: First ever museum dedicated to sexual gadgets has opened in Prague
  • Date: 21st September 2006
  • Summary: (CEEF) PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (RECENT) (REUTERS) PEOPLE IN FRONT OF TOWN HALL IN OLD TOWN SQUARE TOURISTS WALKING IN TOWN SQUARE TOURISTS LOOKING AT TOWN HALL ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK VARIOUS OF FIGURES IN CLOCK TOWER PEOPLE WALKING PAST SEX MUSEUM TOURISTS TAKING PICTURE THROUGH MUSEUM WINDOW PEOPLE IN MUSEUM RECEPTION MUSEUM EXHIBIT PEOPLE ENTERING THE MUSEUM MAN AND WOMAN LOOKING AT EXHIBIT HANDLE OPERATED VIBRATORS WITH CRANKS, FROM GERMANY, YEAR 1910 VARIOUS OF SEX MACHINES AND DILDOS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LOOKING AT EXHIBIT BENCH WITH DILDOS ON EACH END VARIOUS OF PEEP SHOW LITTER FROM 19TH CENTURY PEOPLE LOOKING AT EXHIBITS VOYEURISTIC CHAMBER-POT, FROM FRANCE 1880 CHASTITY BELTS FOR WOMEN, FROM GERMANY 1580 SEXUAL SEAT BEHIND GLASS PEOPLE LOOKING AT EXHIBITS COLOURFUL VIBRATORS (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) MUSEUM DIRECTOR LUCIE PORICKA, SAYING: "We have around 300 exhibits and some others being prepared for the exhibition. The collection was prepared some years before it first opened and the collection continues to expand all the time. We plan to open two more rooms." VARIOUS OF YOUNG MAN AND WOMAN LOOKING AT EXHIBIT IN GLASS FRAME IRON CORSET FROM FRANCE 1500 WHITE BRA ON DISPLAY CORSET ON DUMMY DOLLS WEARING NIGHT SHIRTS WITH HOLES HANGING ON WALL COUPLE LOOKING AT EXHIBIT AND SMILING GOLD AND WHITE SEX CHAIR (SOUNDBITE)(English) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN, SAYING: "It's fine. It's cool." (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED MAN, SAYING: "It's bizarre. Very very strange." UNIDENTIFIED MAN WOMAN SAYS: "Interesting." (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) UNIDENTIFIED MAN, SAYING: "It is very unusual. We don't have museums like this in Russia." ANTI-MASTURBATION BELT FOR WOMEN SEX SWING HANGING FROM ROOF STEAM ENGINE VIBRATOR (SOUNDBITE)(Czech) MUSEUM DIRECTOR LUCIE PORICKA, SAYING: "Here the charcoal is put in. Here you fill it by petrol. Than it is functioning like any other steam engine, like a real locomotive." PORICKA TURNING WHEEL OF ENGINE TWO WOMEN LOOKING AT MACHINES IN MUSEUM (SOUNDBITE)(Czech) MUSEUM DIRECTOR, LUCIE PORICKA, SAYING: "Here we have two leather dildos from Greece ready to be exhibited. This is a concave brass piece from France with a breech, which is filled with warm water. The same is done with the other one, made from glass." SELECTION OF ITEMS NOT YET ON DISPLAY VARIOUS OF EARLY SPANISH EROTIC FILM "LADIES CABINET"
  • Embargoed: 6th October 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Czech Republic
  • Country: Czech Republic
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA8Q8NK3S2PK9FGNU26CGQOCBE
  • Story Text: While many visitors in Europe like to absorb the history of a country by visiting its museums, those who travel to Prague have the opportunity to witness a rather more different history than most.
    In the small and busy streets of Prague's Old Town, it is hard for visitors not to miss the bright red signs promoting a museum which delves into the peculiar history of the world's sex machines.
    The museum is the first of its kind and has over 300 sex machines and gadgets dating back to the 14th century on display.
    Located just a stone's throw from Prague's famous Old Town Square, the museum collection consists of items from all over the world and includes movable "furniture" like chairs and swings specially created for sexual play. Anti-masturbation apparatus for both sexes and a sex steam engine created for "hysterical" women in the 19th century can also be seen.
    The museum is the result of its founder and owner Oriano Bizzochi's thorough research and curiosity. It opened two years ago and is constantly expanding.
    "The collection was prepared some years before it first opened and the collection expands all the time. We plan to open two more rooms," said museum director Lucie Poricka.
    The museums takes the visitor on a tour through the history of the human quest for sexual pleasure.
    An entire department of the museum is devoted to erotic dresses, underwear, corsets, bras and night shirts with holes for the genitals.
    Visitors at the museum were positive and a little stunned by the exhibition.
    "It's bizarre. Very very strange," a man visiting said. "Interesting," a young woman added.
    A young Russian tourist agreed.
    "It is very unusual. We don't have museums like this in Russia," he said.
    The exhibition is completed with a cinema showing rare erotic films from the early 20th Century, ordered by Spanish King Alfonse XIII, the grandfather of Spain's current King Juan Carlos.
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