The only art gallery in the world dedicated to collecting, studying and presenting the human and animal penis is in Reykjavik, and it is a space that does not leave indifferent: the Phallological Museum of Iceland hosts hundreds of phalluses of different species of mammals, including homo sapiens, or whales, elephants, bears, seals, cats and mice.
There are giant penises of whales, contrasting with tiny guinea pig and rabbit phalluses. There are wrinkled and old horse genitals, near the penis of a zebra, preserved in an upright position in a flaccid state, or that of a ram, floating in its jar in an erect state.
Some inevitably look like parts of a human being, until a dry phallus of an African savannah elephant remembers that they are mostly animal penises.
The penises of ungulates differ from human penises in that they are usually fibroelastic and support, proportionally, much less blood flow. Consequently, their penises don't always expand and lengthen a lot, but straighten out when a retractor muscle relaxes, the Icelandic museum explains.
The Phallological Museum of Iceland houses hundreds of phalluses of different species of mammals, including homo sapiens (EFE).
The space houses the world's largest collection of male sex organs, with hundreds of parts of Iceland's entire mammal fauna, including that of a homo sapiens, and more than 100 foreign species. Each organ on display is perfectly protected and preserved, and includes meticulous cataloguing 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 lengthens by 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 hamster and mouse limb.
The Museum houses hundreds of phalluses of different species including whales, elephants, bears, seals, cats and mice (EFE).
Among the phallic stories told by the gallery is that of Ferdinand VII of Spain (1784-1833), who went down in history as King Felon or the Desired.
It is said that his third wife, Maria Josepha 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 doctor made her use a special cushion to soften her coital onslaughts.
Alongside this story, hang several letters of will from visitors who have pledged to donate their parts, such as Tom Mitchell, who donates and passes on full and absolute ownership of ELMO: his penis, testicles, scrotum and pubic scalp to the museum.
A joke
It all started with a joke. Sigurdur Hjartarson was 33 when, in 1974, he received a bull's penis, a long, dry organ, as a gift from staff at the school he ran in Akranes, an Icelandic municipality of 6,600 people.
This joke became a regular occurrence and several teachers, who worked in the summer at a whaling station, continued to bring phalluses to Hjartarson, developing his interest in collecting male genitalia. "I was never interested in collecting stamps!" says the Spanish teacher, who holds a degree in Latin American History in Edinburgh.
He had accumulated in a short time a total of 13 phallic units, almost half of the Icelandic land mammals, so he sought to complete the collection to cover all the fauna of Iceland.
With a small personal collection, he founded his museum in 1997, an independent family project that over the years was receiving donations from all over the world.
Small jars, with a magnifying glass placed in front, are exposed to see the tiny hamster and mouse limb (EFE).
The gallery opened in downtown Reykjavik with 62 phalluses, along with artwork and stories, and Hjartarson continued to expand his collection to other mammals. Initially, locals were reluctant to visit the museum, many assuming the exhibition is explicit and not the phallus museum 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.
It was from an Icelander named Pall Arason, who died at the age of 95. The founder of the museum retired and passed the business to his son Hjörtur, who returned the museum to the capital. In the following years, the number of visitors grew exaggeratedly, says the museum.
The museum today has a café offering 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 phallotheca annually.
EFE Agency.
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