Imane Rachidi |
Reykjavik (EFE) mammals, including homo sapiens, or whales, elephants, bears, seals, cats, and mice.
There are giant whale penises, contrasting with tiny guinea pig and rabbit phalluses. Old, wrinkled horse genitalia are presented near the penis of a zebra, preserved upright in the flaccid state, or that of a ram, floating in its jar in the erect state. Some inevitably look like parts of a human being, until a dry phallus from an African bush elephant reminds us that they are mostly animal penises.
“Ungulate penises differ from human penises in that they tend to be fibroelastic and support, proportionally, much less blood flow. Consequently, their penises do not always expand and lengthen greatly, but straighten out when a retractor muscle relaxes,” explains the Icelandic museum.
The world’s largest collection of male sexual organs
The space is home to the world’s largest collection of male sexual organs, with hundreds of parts from all of Iceland’s mammalian fauna, including that of Homo sapiens, and more than 100 foreign species. Each exposed organ is perfectly protected and preserved, and includes meticulous cataloging and an image of the animal.
The shelves that divide the room interrupt the overwhelming panorama of phalluses, mostly preserved in formaldehyde and exposed floating in glass jars.
One of the pieces is that of a reindeer, which measures about 12 centimeters, but elongates 40% with erections during mating, which lasts about 10 days. On the other side, small jars are exposed, with a magnifying glass placed in front, to see the tiny member of hamster and mice.
Among the phallic stories that the art gallery tells is that of Fernando VII of Spain (1784-1833), who went down in history as the king “Felón” or “el Deseado”. It is said that his third wife, María Josefa Amalia of Saxony, “refused to sleep with her husband until a papal letter convinced her that conjugal relations were part of Catholic morality” and the king’s physician made her “use a special cushion to soften their coital attacks ”, relates the art gallery.
Hanging alongside this story are several letters of intent from visitors who have pledged to donate their parts, such as “Tom Mitchell,” who donates and conveys ELMO’s “full and absolute” property: his “penis, testicles, scrotum, and leather.” pubic scalp” to the museum.
A joke that reached the museum
It all started with a joke. Sigurdur Hjartarson was 33 years old when, in 1974, he received a bull’s penis, a long, dry organ, as a gift from the staff of the school he ran in Akranes, an Icelandic town of 6,600 people.
This prank became a regular thing and several teachers, who worked in the summer at a whaling station, continued to bring Hjartarson phalluses, developing his interest in collecting male genitalia. “I was never interested in collecting stamps!” says this Spanish teacher, who graduated in Latin American History in Edinburgh.
He had accumulated in a short time a total of 13 phallic units, almost half of the Icelandic terrestrial mammals, so he sought to complete the collection to cover all the fauna of Iceland. With a small personal collection, she founded his museum in 1997, an independent family project that over the years received donations from around the world.
Phallic themed cafe
The gallery opened in downtown Reykjavík with 62 phalli, along with artwork and stories, and Hjartarson continued to expand his collection to include other mammals. “Initially, the locals were reluctant to visit the museum, many assuming that the exhibition is explicit and not the phallus museum that it really is,” the museum explains.
In 2004, the museum moved to a larger space in Húsavík, in northern Iceland, until, in 2011, Hjartarson achieved his big goal: a human penis for his collection. He was from an Icelander named Pall Arason, who died at the age of 95. The founder of the museum retired and passed the business on to his son Hjörtur, who returned the museum to the capital. “In the following years, the number of visitors exaggeratedly” grew, says the museum.
The museum now has a cafeteria that offers phallus-shaped waffles, and a phallic-themed gift shop. Some 14,000 people, who travel to this island country to see its impressive landscapes, visit its false library annually.