It is a museum like no other, and no doubt without competition. As one enters its premises in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, its theme hits you from all sides; set on plaques nailed to the walls or in jars in various states, and all well preserved –in pure water or in formalin if they are in jars — or tanned, hollowed and filled with silicon, or salted, flavoured with herbs such as marjoram, and dried/tanned.
And the owners of the privately-run museum say 60-percent of their visitors tend to be women.
The Icelandic Phallalogical Museum, Rejkjavik
This is the Icelandic Phallological Museum, and all those colourfully displayed are penises, penile parts or something to do with the male sexual organ.
With almost 300 penises and penile parts from 93 species of animals, this undoubtedly is the largest museum with so many male sexual organs displayed for the public.
According to museum’s official data, the museum contains phalluses of ‘almost all’ land and sea mammals found in Iceland and some more, including almost four dozen from abroad. The collection’s largest is that of a sperm whale with a length of 1.7 metres and weighing 75 kilos, and the smallest is that of a hamster, just two mm long.
The Beginning
The story started four decades ago when the museum’s founder Sigurdur Hjartarson, during a conversation with family and friends, narrated the story of being given a pizzle, a bull’s penis, to be used as a whip.
Mr. Hjartarson was a teacher, and upon hearing the story some of his colleagues began giving him pizzles and other penises.
It may have been meant to tease him, but the foundation for the museum was laid. Soon, there were phalluses of other mammals, such as whales, and in 1997, he opened the museum in Reykjavik with just over 60 specimens. He moved the museum to Husavik, a town about 480 km north of Reykjavik, ten years ago but in 2011, the museum moved back to the capital, to its current location in one of the premium shopping boulevards.
Penises — real and fake — on the wall
The current inventory includes penises and other male sexual organ parts of more than a dozen whales, seals, polar bear, walrus, elephant, giraffe and, of course, the hamster. Among them are also three horse penises that have been ‘flavoured’ with salt and herbs such as dill, thyme, marjoram and oregano.
There are also nearly two dozen under folklore, which includes such esoteric mammals as the Icelandic elf and a foxacat, and dozens of penises or parts from abroad.
Then there are other artworks, such as utensils, photographs and paintings, all related to the museum’s theme.
In 2011, the museum finally received its most sought-after penis – that of a man.
The museum did have two already, but they were not the complete stuff of a man. In 2011, a 95-year old Icelandic donor passed away but unfortunately for Mr. Hjartarson, the preservation process was botched, and what is
The Human Penis, Though Botched Preservation
displayed is a shrunken scrotum and a traumatized manhood that makes one feel as if the museum still lacks a complete penis of a man.
But that is bound to change soon. Hjortur Gisli Sigurdsson, son of the founder and the museum’s curator, told in an email that four people, including one from the US, have already given in writing their permission for their penises to be harvested once they die, and so the hope to get a ‘better one’ is alive.
For all its blatant display of penises, Museum’s founder says it is all about the science of studying the phallus, no less.
The museum is open throughout the year though opening times are different during summer and winter.
More information can be obtained by visiting the website at, appropriately url’d, phallus.is.
