To some in our party, our inclusion of the Criminal Museum on our recent Viennese itinerary seemed a little odd. “But it sounds gruesome.” “But it’s in the middle of nowhere.” “But there are so many other places to visit.”
We pleaded that Haron needed to visit, to help her legal studies. After all, there could be some fascinating stuff that might help her research. So we won the day.
The real reason’s below (and yes, Haron did get a few odd looks as she snapped the photo):
Yes, dear readers, in the midst of some exceptionally unpleasant displays of murder weapons, skulls of executed villains “and the very cords used to hang them” – there, in the basement, was what our guidebook had enticed us with: a collection of “pieces of equipment from a 19th-century sado-masochist salon”.
Sadly, the display case was firmly locked – but do feel free to email the curators and point out that many museums these days offer historical re-enactments to boost visitor numbers. Only, I suppose, those re-enactments typically involve participants putting on authentic costumes, rather than taking them off…
(Hey, do you think the contents of my study might end up in a museum one day?)
I think you belong in a museum, but your study? Hmm. Maybe in part of your display? “And this is what we found in his habitat. He really is a remarkable fossil…”
Smudge, you are shockingly rude, but very funny 😉
And talking of recreations, how much to I want to go to Blenheim Palace next weekend for their servant recreation dasy: http://www.blenheimpalace.com/whatson/view.htm?id=413 How accurate do you reckon the recreations will be?!
..and the explanation card will read,
‘All 400 of these implements were found in the one study.’
What bravado, Smudge. So brave. So foolish…
Omg the Blenheim day sounds wonderful. Oh, the thought of getting a group of spankos in period dress to infiltrate the real pretend-servants and give entirely inauthentic displays of country house discipline in front of the shocked day-trippers…!
200, Rob! Don’t exaggerate!
This is the reason I’ve always wanted to do Kentwell. As a new actor you start out as someone of low social status – an apprentice in the village, perhaps, or a scullerymaid in the hall. Most people rise through the ranks as they gain experience in the re-creations and are able to make more elaborate outfits and put on a more polished public performance as a member of the nobility, but me, I’d be happy to stay in the kitchens
Abel: 201 if you include whipping benches….lucky fella…
I can’t help it, I’m laughing at the idea of an Abel-fossil in a museum surrounded by his tools. Imagine the puzzled looks of the experts as they try to imagine how he fabricated all of them without stones or flints. And of course, it would mean that various trade routes were in operation much earlier than anthropologists had thought, albeit for rattan and rubber rather than for silk or spices.
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