This Belongs in a Museum

I always try to go to the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, which has an annual Day of the Dead exhibit (check out past photos from 2012, 2013, and 2015). It is the only Latino museum accredited by the American Association of Museums and also has the country’s largest Mexican art collection. So it’s fitting the museum also has one of the biggest displays of Día de los Muertos. There are numerous altars and related art by local and international artists. And that’s not it. There is also a sugar skull demonstration along with foot pedal loom weaving and wood carving, while at nightfall the museum and surrounding area is turned into an elaborate work of art, featuring visual displays that tells the story of the Day of the Dead. There are 75 ofrendas, created by community members, local artists and organizations, while people can enjoy pan de muerto and hot chocolate, musical performances, and face painting. And it’s all FREE!!!

The big bonus this year was that I had the opportunity to meet writer Sandra Cisneros, a Chicago native, who was signing books at the museum but also an altar was on display dedicated to her deceased mother Elvira Cordero Cisneros with objects from her bedroom, including books and picture frames, along with flowers to reflect her mother’s love for gardening. 

In case you didn’t already know, Día de los Muertos is a day to celebrate the lives of deceased loved ones. It is believed that on this day, the souls of the dead travel back to earth. Leaving an altar with an offering for the souls ensures that they will find their way home. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the “Day of the Dead” exhibition at the museum. It is dedicated to the victims of the Pulse tragedy in Orlando, Florida; Alejandro Mondragón, the sugar skull maker from Toluca, México who demonstrated the art of alfeñique for 20 years at the museum; Mexican singer Juan Gabriel who died this past year; and victims of Chicago’s gun violence.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Every year during the month of October THIS BELONGS IN A MUSEUM attempts to highlight some Halloween-worthy museums and attractions. I hope you enjoyed learning about them. Maybe one day you will be able to visit Munich’s Asamkirche where a gilded skeleton sculpture tries to cut down an innocent cherub with a pair of scissors at or see with your own eyes the table made completely out of human remains at the Museum of the History of Medicine in Paris. One can only hope! Because I am sort of like a character in High Fidelity, here is a Top 10 list of the scariest and creepiest places from the blog’s archive, in case you might have missed them the first time around:

Witch’s Dungeon Classic Movie Museum Open since 1966, this is the longest-running Halloween-ish museum in the U.S. with classic movie monsters on display and outdoor screenings of silent horror classics.

Serial Killer Museum Forget the history and art of Florence, you should go see this museum, which goes back to the mass murderers of the 15th century. There’s even a mock-up of Ed Gein’s shack full of his creations made out of the skin of his victims.

Mütter Museum Shout-out to Philly’s gross anatomy museum, which started in 1858 with the medical research collection of Dr. Thomas Mütter. Known for its oddities and specimens, you can check out the thorax of John Wilkes Booth or the famous Soap Lady.

Museum of Vampires and Legendary Creatures Known as the Musée des Vampires, a French scholar opened his small vampire-related collection to the public. You can see hundreds of vampire films, books, art objects and paintings, movie posters and props, and even a vampire-killing kit!

Ten Courts of Hell Nobody likes hell (except for the people who choose to never leave their suburban subdivisions) so you will probably find this Chinese Mythological Outdoor Park absolutely frightening.

Museo Galileo We’re back in Florence, this time at a Science Museum for one creepy object: Galileo’s mummified middle finger from his right hand on display in a gold and glass reliquary

Devil Museum Lithuania’s Žmuidzinavičius Museum displays over 3,000 sculptures and carvings of devils from all over the world. One famous piece ’The Division of Lithuania’, features Hitler and Stalin as two fork-tailed devils, dancing on a pile of human skulls.

Munster Mansion In Waxahachie, Texas there is a nearly perfect replica of the Munster family home. Yes, a television show. If you’re interested in visiting the house, it is available for FREE tours during the month of October. Add it to your bucket list! 

Waldsassen Basilica This is the place where your macabre dream come true. The church contains ten reliquaries of richly dressed and bejeweled skeletons of Christian martyrs, the largest intact collection in all of Europe, known as the “Holy Bodies”.

Cockroach Hall of Fame Museum Okay, maybe some of you people are not at all afraid of these godawful insects, but try living with them for two years and see how you like it. Anyway, some guy in Texas turns dead roaches into the art of nightmares. I am sweating just thinking about it.

North of Knoxville in Clinton, Tennessee is the Museum of Appalachia, a living history museum that interprets the pioneer and early 20th-century period of the Southern Appalachian region. There is a collection of more than 30 historic buildings rescued from neglect and decay and gathered together, including cabins owned by the families of Mark Twain and Daniel Boone.

The Display Barn has one of the largest collections of pioneer frontier relics, along with a fully stocked general store and rural post office, as well as an exhibit on Appalachian folk art, created by a number of colorful mountain characters like Minnie Black, who made instruments and sculptures from gourds. I’m not saying Minnie didn’t do a good job (hey, I don’t even know what a gourd is) but I kind of want to smash them all into little pieces before they escape the museum and try to kill me. They’re just that creepy.

Besides some other creepy folk art pieces, the museum also includes the devil (the first thing you see when you enter and...oh boy...what an image) and a painting of Cas Walker's Coon Dog Cemetary (yes, it’s misspelled). The three dogs who saved Walker’s life were Junior, Tug, and Blackie...and don’t you forget! That is important information. For those who don’t know, Cas Walker is the man who discovered both Dolly Parton and the Everly Brothers so we have to send a big thank you to those dogs out in the Coon Dog Cemetary, wherever that may be. Rest in peace, ol’ doggies!

I don’t know if this is creepy or cool or what…but it’s definitely not something you see on a daily basis, that’s for sure.

Although some people might think it’s a Tesla coil, this machine, constructed in the 1970s by the Russian Electrical Engineering Institute, is actually a Marx generator. The Soviet-era tower was built to test lightning insulation and at peak power could discharge for 100 microseconds onto a platform at the same level as all generating facilities in the country. Although reportedly it is still turned on occasionally, including in August of 2014, the generator is mostly abandoned. Would-be explorers still venture near its incredible towers, located in the middle of a virgin forest outside of Moscow, even with the risk of a sudden electrical storm. I guess they just don’t care!

There’s nothing creepier than a wax museum. See here and here for example. Oh, and why not check out this other post too while you’re at it? Did you click? Wasn’t that the absolute worst? Because you know what’s really, really, really creepy? Historic photos of wax museums.

Madame Tussaud started the creepy phenomenon of wax figurines in 1835, opening her first wax museum on Baker Street in London. Even to this day, they’re still a main tourist attraction...don’t ask me why? I guess people like to spend their money and time looking at creepy things.

Deep in the museum’s archives are behind-the-scenes photographs from the early-to-mid-20th century. There is one of Bernard Tussaud, grandson of Madame Tussaud, from 1935 holding two wax heads, one of Haile Selassie, Emperor of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) and the other of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Another one of technician working on broken hands from wax statues in 1950. Also there is one from 1928 of two young boys staring at a waxwork model of Princess Elizabeth, who would one day be the longest reigning monarch in British history. And then there are the wax heads of various celebrities sitting on a table waiting to be repaired or melted down sometime in the 1950s.

It’s okay, let’s all let out a collective scream together: 1...2...3...AAAAHHHHH!!!

Yesterday I told you about an old church in southern Germany, and today we continue the theme with another old church, this time in the Czech Republic. Consecrated in 1352, Kostel svatého Jiří (St. George's Church) in Luková, Czech Republic had been neglected for more than forty years, partly because its congregants, who believed the church was haunted, refused to set foot inside. Also, Czechoslovakia was under Communist rule for decades so the government wasn’t too fond of religion either. As the church fell further and further into decay, people tried to come up with different ways on how it could be saved. Then Jakub Hadrava, a sculpture student at the University of West Bohemia, had an idea: Using his fellow students as models, he wrapped them in plastic and raincoats creating 30 ghost sculptures who now “live” inside the abandoned church, creating not only a creepy (but somewhat eerily beautiful) atmosphere but also worldwide attention. As word spread about the "Ghost Church" and the international press grew, more visitors came to visit the church, leaving enough donations to fix the roof and secure the sturdiness of the structure. Also, the people of Luková themselves returned, and now use the church for services, as you can see in this photo here.

Old churches usually have beautiful, and sometimes unique, statuary. But nothing beats the gilded sculpture of the skeleton of death trying to cut down an innocent cherub, who symbolizes the thread of life, with what appears to be a pair of scissors at Asamkirche (Asam Church) in Munich, Germany.

Officially called the Church of Saint Johann Nepomuk, the church was built between 1733 and 1746 by the Asam brothers, late Baroque sculptors who worked together in southern Germany Their work, which was located right next to where they lived, was supposed to serve as a private chapel for them but eventually the brothers were forced to make the church accessible to the public. If you like ridiculously ornate rococo interior with death hidden in plain sight, then I suggest you add this to your “places I must visit before I die, but will probably never see because I’m too freakin’ poor” list.

I bet you won’t be able to sleep tonight after seeing this clown automaton from the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix.

Yes, it moves…it plays music…it’s a clown!