The Viktor Wynd Museum Of Curiosities, Fine Art & UnNatural History
Last week I got a break from DIY and gardening projects and had a chance to visit a small and unusual museum in East London.
The museum is located in the basement of the Last Tuesday Society, itself, a small an unusual bar. As it was a nice day, I walked from Liverpool Street station, grabbing a salt-beef bagel from Brick Lane on the way.
Closer to the museum is Cambridge Heath station and there are buses running up Cambridge Heath Road from Bethnal Green tube station. The museum is just over the Regents Canal, set back from the main road.
I arrived a little early so had a coffee in the Italian cafe next door and took a stroll around the block. The museum opened at 3pm and by the time I arrived around 10 past there were already a few visitors.
The entrance door leads straight into the bar with a long counter running down the right. There is a seating area at the back. I was greeted by one of the staff and told that the museum entrance fee was £12 or reduced if I bought a drink.
So with absinthe cocktail in hand, I headed down the spiral staircase to the museum. I didn’t get far before being blocked by one of the other guests who was peering into a glass case which occupied the all of the wall half way down the stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs, I stepped out into a gloomy complex of rooms all stuffed full of glass cabinets. The style of the displays was reminiscent of the Victorian natural history museum at Tring but this was more compact with narrower spaces between the the displays and every available space being used. Even the ceilings were used to display strange items.
The exhibits include books, taxidermy, film props and erotica. In one area there is a goat and bull who appear to be performing a seance. In another section, tiny fairies ride sea horses and a fortune telling mole gazes into a miniature crystal ball. Some exhibits are quite macabre and others have adult themes, so be warned this is not your family friendly discovery centre.
If you can’t get to London or the accessibility of the museum is an issue then you can read about the collection in Viktor Wynd’s book “The Unnatural History Museum”.
Posted in: Exhibition
Tags: museum
Metal sculpture in brass, mounted on an 1800s French Coin
Guess I’ll have to get the book. Looking at the cocktail list I guess some things might be even stranger after a few slurps