A torture museum is a museum that exhibits instruments of torture and provides an insight on the history of torture and its use in human society. Several museums dedicated to the history of torture are located worldwide, but a higher amount are concentrated in Europe. Most of them exhibit fake items, devices which were seldom or never used in real history, particularly in the "Middle Age", such as "Iron maidens" or "breast rippers", which may have been used only in the ancient Roman empire.
Historical Controversies Although these types of museums are famous around the world, they often present a distorted, sensationalist, or exaggerated view of the "Dark Ages". Although history was full of violence, these types of museums often display imaginative torture devices that are often passed off as real. Many of them were in fact conceived in periods far removed from the Middle Ages, especially during the 19th century.
Torture museums
Europe Examples of the torture museums in Europe include: In Spain: Museo de la Tortura in Toledo, Spain Galeria de la Inquisicion in Cordoba, Spain Torture Museum in Santillana del Mar, Spain Medieval Torture Museum in El Castell de Guadalest, Spain In Germany Mediaeval Torture Museum (Mittelalterliches Foltermuseum) in Rüdesheim am Rhein, Germany Medieval Crime Museum (das Kriminalmuseum) in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany In Italy Museo della Tortura di Siena in Siena, Italy Medieval Criminal and Torture Museum (Museo della Tortura e di Criminologia Medievale) in San Gimignano, Italy In Netherlands Torture Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments, Amsterdam, Netherlands Torture Museum (Foltermuseum auf Burg Sommereck) in Spittal an der Drau, Austria Torture Museum Oude Steen in Bruges, Belgium Tortureum Museum of Torture in Zagreb, Croatia Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments in Prague, Czech Republic Torture Exhibition near Castelul Corvinilor in Hunedoara, Romania Torture Museum in San Marino
The Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments was opened in 2012 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It uses human size wax figures to increase the interactive learning of what the Dark Ages considered to be torture.
Asia Examples of the torture museums in Asia include: Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia Unit 731 Museum in Harbin, China
North America The largest torture museums in North America: The Medieval Torture Museum in the cities of St. Augustine, Florida and Chicago, Illinois Medieval Torture Museum in Hollywood, California Museum Of Man's Instruments Of Torture in San Diego, California Museum Of Historic Torture Devices in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin Museo de la Tortura in Mexico City, Mexico Museo de la Tortura Veracruz, Mexico
See also Medieval instruments of torture Torture chamber
References
External links in Amsterdam, Netherlands Torture Museum Oude Steen in Bruges, Belgium Medieval Criminal and Torture Museum (Museo della Tortura e di Criminologia Medievale) in San Gimignano, Italy Museo Criminale Mediovale Medieval Crime Museum in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany Medieval Torture Museum in the cities of St. Augustine, Chicago and Los Angeles