The museum describes it’s history and mission better than I ever could,<\/p>\n “The Museum of Broken Relationships grew from a traveling exhibition revolving around the concept of failed relationships and their ruins.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Unlike “destructive” self-help instructions for recovery from grief and loss, the Museum offers the chance to overcome and emotional collapse through creation by contributing to the Museum’s collection.<\/p>\n Of course, the reason everyone goes to the Museum of Broken Relationships… the stories.\u00a0 I’ve collected a few of my favorites.<\/p>\n “A Bob Dylan Tarantula book<\/p>\n Sleaford, Lincolnshire, UK<\/p>\n 2 years<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Given to me by an American “boyfriend” when I was 17 and inscribed “for………… who charmed the savage wolf”.\u00a0 I didn’t know that he would hound my parents for years, and would eventually have a sex change and steal their names for his new persona.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n “One Euro<\/p>\n 2015<\/p>\n Alnassria, Iraq<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When I remember her my eyes tear up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last night I was thinking, “What can I give? What’s my story?” I couldn’t find anything more valuable than this.\u00a0 It is just a coin, and maybe somebody will think that this is of little value, but the truth is that to me it is everything.\u00a0 I will make the story short.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Two years ago I had a very dear friend from Baghdad.\u00a0 Her mother was from Germany, and her father was from Iraq.\u00a0 She was always traveling between Baghdad and Berlin.\u00a0 One day, when we met, she gave me this coin from her other home, Germany.\u00a0 I think about her all the time.\u00a0 And she said to me with the most honest smile:\u00a0 “Maybe a day will come when you will use this coin in Europe.”\u00a0 Two days later I received news that she died in a terrorist bombing in Baghdad.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I was left with this coin to remember her, to me the most valuable possession.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is my contribution.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n “A Stiletto Shoe<\/p>\n 1966, six weeks, and 1998, a few hours<\/p>\n Amsterdam, The Netherlands<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was 1959, I was ten, T. was eleven.\u00a0 We were very much in love.\u00a0 When I told my mother we had gone skinny dipping in the canal, I got my ears boxed and was sent to spend the rest of the school holiday with an aunt.\u00a0 When I was fifteen, we had more wonderful times together until he moved to Germany with his parents.\u00a0 Our goodbye came with many tears and promises.\u00a0 We would write every week and never marry anyone else.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was 1998 and I had just stopped working in prostitution.\u00a0 I wanted to write a book about S&M and was going to work for a dominatrix for a few weeks.\u00a0 On the second day, the dominatrix allowed me to belittle and whip a client.\u00a0 First I made him lick my stilettos.\u00a0 Because he wasn’t submissive enough and had the nerve to address me with “mistress” (instead of “high mistress”).\u00a0 I wanted to whip him harder.\u00a0 And that was when I recognised him; “T., is that you?”\u00a0 He was startled and stood up.\u00a0 At once we were back in 1966.\u00a0 He told me he had the desire to be submissive because his father had beaten him as a child.\u00a0 T. was now in his second marriage and he wanted to make it work.\u00a0 It was better we never saw each other again.\u00a0 After a few hours we said our goodbyes, and he asked; “Can I keep one of your stilettos as a memento?”\u00a0 When he walked out the door, it felt like my stiletto-less foot was no longer mine.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Pretty good stuff right?!\u00a0 Those are just a few of my favorites, but all of the stories are great and the museum is every bit as quirky and interesting as you would want it to be!\u00a0 Of course, one of the best parts of any museum is the museum store, and The Museum of Broken Relationships in no different.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/magsonthemove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/image-137-e1477974475708-510x714.jpeg\")
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Whatever the motivation for donating personal belongings- be it sheer exhibitionism, therapeutic relief, or simple curiousity – people embraced the idea of exhibiting their emotional legacy as a sort of ritual, a solemn ceremony.\u00a0 Our societies acknowledge marriages, funerals, and even graduation farewells, but deny us any formal recognition of the demise of a relationship, despite it’s strong emotional effect.<\/p>\n
In the words of Roland Barthe’s in A Lover’s Discourse: “Every passion, ultimately, has it’s spectator… (there is) no amorous obligation without a final theatre.<\/p>\n
Conceptualized in Croatia in 2006, the Museum has since toured internationally, creating an ever evolving, community built collection that challenges our ideas about heritage.<\/p>\n
Although colored by personal experience, local culture, and history, the exhibits presented here form universal patterns that bring comfort to all those who uncover them.\u00a0 Hopefully they can also inspire our personal search for deeper insights and strengthen our belief in something more meaningful than random suffering.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/magsonthemove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/image-510x680.jpeg\")
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