Museum of Broken Relationships
As you wander around the Upper Old Town in Zagreb, you will come across an intriguing and unusual museum not far from the lovely St Mark’s Square with its Church of St Mark. The Museum of Broken Relationships grew from a traveling exhibition centered around the concept of failed relationships, their ruins and repercussions. Unlike “self-help” instructions for recovery from failed or lost loves, this museum offers a chance to overcome emotional stress through a creative process, by contributing to the museum collection. And people all over the world have contributed, by the thousands.
Conceptualized in Croatia and located permanently in the historical part of Zagreb, the museum has toured internationally in over 25 cities so far, including Taipei, Paris, Berlin, Cape Town, Singapore, and Kilkenny, Ireland. In 2013, it traveled to Taiwan, Boulder (Colorado, USA), and Paris (France). Currently there is an exhibition in Amsterdam (see below).
The museum’s exhibits take the viewer on a unique emotional journey around the world through a variety of items symbolizing break-ups in relationships. The founders realized that most societies around the world have special ceremonies to mark events such as births, deaths, marriages, graduations, and retirements, but most have no way of recognizing or marking the end of a relationship. Hence, the invitation to share personal items that tell a story about a loss.
This is an unusual concept for a museum, but one that has universal appeal, as everyone has experienced a loss of some sort. It has many kinds of personal items, from teddy bears, to pieces of clothing, to everyday household items, to letters, to pictures, all telling a story of some relationship that ended: a few by death, or separation by war, but most because of a couple splitting up. Each item is exhibited individually and has a board with its story—some very poignant, some funny, some very sad, some angry.
The museum is housed in an old building—the beautiful baroque Kulmer Palace in the Upper Town (Gradec)—but the interior has been completely re-done. So, it’s modern inside, with very simple, clean lines and excellent lighting. It’s not a large exhibit, but it gets the message across—really capturing the sorrow and hope of a common humanity. We enjoyed reading the story attached to each item, laughing out loud at a few, commiserating with others, totally empathizing with a few, especially those who were using their story as a catharsis for anger. Look at some of the words accompanying the pictures here. The information boards are all in English and Croatian, but using the QR codes visitors can also read the captions in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish.
Well worth a couple of hours. There is also a small café and shop.
A visiting exhibition of new donations plus some from the permanent collection is currently in Amsterdam—in the Oude Kerk cathedral, from November 16, 2013 to March 2, 2014.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
25kuna/adult (about US$4.50), seniors and students 20 kuna
9am-10:30pm (June 1-September 30), 9am-9pm (October 1-May 31)
Closed November 1, December 25, January 1, and Easter
Sv. Cirila Metoda 2, Upper Town, Zagreb
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