This museum started as a joke and turned into a serious cock capital

If there are two things that people like taking pictures of, it’s these: (i) things that prove they’ve been abroad and (ii)  things that look like penises. It was the Greek philosopher Epicurus who said “nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little” and, who knows, maybe he was talking about dicks.

For the epicurious among our readers, you might want to check out the Icelandic Phallological Museum in Reykjavík, home to the world's largest collection of artistically-recreated penises and real ones too. As per Wikipedia: “The collection of 280 specimens from 93 species of animals includes 55 penises taken from whales, 36 from seals and 118 from land mammals, allegedly including Huldufólk (Icelandic elves) and trolls”. Damn. Lotta dongs, that.

Started in 1997 by Sigurdur Hjartarson, a teacher and historian, it opened with 62 specimens and has seen the the number of exhibitions erected in its fine halls engorged in recent years by a massive surge in visitors. It would seem that people just can’t seem to get enough of dicks/art. 

"It's a good plateau for jokes and having a good time. You can get educated and at the same time have some fun," said Hjortur Sigurdsson, son of Sigurdur, who runs the museum, to news agency AFP. “It all started as a joke.”

Twitter user Shamwich, after visiting the museum, said: “That was a lot of penis.” And another user Ginandtomic noted that it was also a Pokestop in Pokemon Go. But Steventhebrave was less happy: “Blue whale phallus is... underwhelming...” he tweeted. 

The museum curators note the importance of members of the pubic being able to compare the phallus of a tiny little mouse and a fucking whacking-great whale cock, but its appeal – somewhere between curiosity and performative kookiness – remains a mostly-leisurely pursuit. 

Fair play. 

(Main image: Icelandic Phallological Museum)