The Unusual Museums in City On Water

• By Cali Shaye
• Growing Marijuana
• 14 years ago
• 0

Amsterdam has its own collection of museum which can be called normal to bizarre. The museum here is plentiful and enough for any tourist to pass his/her time. Right on Damrak, Amsterdam’s Main Street, one will find one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions – the Sex Museum. Filled with curious couples, the museum has floor after floor of displays which range from exotic to erotic, historic to hysterical. Once a person goes inside the museum he/she will find a great collection of erotic art from throughout history and a number of other entertaining exhibits. There is everything from an extensive collection of literature and manuscripts portraying various illustrations of sex that have popped up throughout history through padded booths playing porno films to a gallery of alternative sexual fetishes.

To a Dutch person, this is a tactful and scholarly attempt to portray the history of sexual artwork and sexuality. Amsterdam is a different world it is a curious combination of an old European style city, with a very modern approach towards life.

The Amsterdam Sex Museum has an extensive international collection of historical erotic and pornographic art, literature and artifacts. The museum has an erotic bend with mannequins so arranged so as to titillate, Greek temple devotional items, Japanese carved erotic ivories and antique and modern fetish wear.

There is a wide-ranging collection of manuscripts and drawings ranging from the Karma Sutra to twentieth-century comics and a vast film and photographic library proffering every sexual predilection and preference. An interactive section offers visitors privacy in one of several small padded booths, with a selection of films playing continuously whilst the display of contemporary paintings can be viewed from one of three appropriately shaped seven-foot long vibrating chairs. The museum is certainly worth a visit but not for those who are easily offended.

Another unusual museum in Amsterdam is the Hash Marihuana Hemp Museum in Amsterdam. It was opened in 1985 and almost a million interested people have visited this permanent exhibition. Each year, some 75,000 people from all parts of the world come to this exceptional cultural and knowledge centre at 148 Oudezijds Achterburgwal, in the heart of the Red-Light District. The museum is completely devoted to the cannabis plant and its many uses. The Hash Marihuana Hemp Museum is unique in the world, and is much like a voyage of discovery that fits perfectly into a tourist visit to Amsterdam.

The scent of genuine cannabis plants welcomes the visitor already when entering the museum. Inside, all aspects of hash and marihuana are fully explained. Like, a photo collection shows how hashish is made in the traditional fashion in Afghanistan. In the Middle East, hash has been a stimulant for centuries. There is a large collection of traditional pipes from all over the world. In addition to all this there is also a collection of photos, posters, and magazines on the cannabis culture, ranging from the 19th century to the era of jazz and on to the contemporary pop culture. Cannabis lovers can enjoy the museum to their hearts’ content.

The Hash Marihuana Hemp Museum has a wide collection of extensive documents as well as historical facts about today’s use of the cannabis plant as well as about its medicinal, religious and cultural applications. In addition, attention is given to the importance of cannabis to the environment, agriculture and industry. The museum shows that hemp has evolved to become one of Man’s most valuable raw materials used in farming.