Offbeat German museums
Step aside Pergamon and make way for the Potato Museum. With more than 6,300 museums total, Germany's cultural landscape boasts a healthy dose of shrines to the strange. DW highlights some of the atypical offerings.
Beyond sanitation
Don't let its sterile namesake fool you. From antique birthing chairs to heat-sensing body cameras, the German Hygiene Museum serves up a side of risqué along with hands-on exhibits about bodily functions and scientific achievements. Here, visitors can listen to confessions about sexuality - like the role body odor plays when choosing a mate. Old-school romantics can read love letters instead.
Wee wonders
Last year more than one million visitors transcended upon Miniatur Wunderland with the world's largest model railway, making it one of the hottest attractions in Hamburg. From the Las Vegas Strip to Norwegian Fjords, the mini museum spans 4,300 square feet to document lilliputian life with more than 215,000 inhabitants, 930 trains and 8,850 cars and ships - some of which are animated.
Voodoo in Essen
Officially named the "Soul of Africa," this museum highlights Voodoo - or Vodun, as well as magic and healing arts in West Africa. The altar above enshrines Mami Wata, goddess of the sea, along with 41 other water spirits. The number 41 is considered holy in Vodun. Curator Henning Christoph says the museum averages about 4,000 visitors a year - enough to inspire an expansion in 2014.
Enlightening darkness
Visitors are equipped with walking canes as blind tour guides help them navigate six rooms of darkness, meant to simulate daily life situations. One of the rooms features an ever-changing exhibit by local Frankfurt artists and museums. The accompanying restaurant, "Taste of Darkness," serves up a three-course meal served completely in the dark.
Heavy history
War is an especially tough topic to tackle in Germany. Through a technical and social lens, the German Tank Museum engages visitors in a critical analysis of German military history. The museum presents more than 150 vehicles of combat, like this 1921 "Schupo-Sonderwagen," used after World War I by police to keep citizens in the Weimar Republic in line.
Medicinal amusement
Located in Heidelberg Castle, the German Pharmacy Museum boasts the largest collection wordwide of objects pertaining to medical sciences. The exhibit spans 2,000 years of pharmaceutical history, including antique first aid kits and a pharmacy display from the Benedictine monastery in Schwarzach from the year 1724 (pictured).
Underground exploration
Designed with machinery from shuttered mines, the German Mining Museum is the largest of its kind in the world. From coal to salt, guests explore mining and its impact, as well as 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) of underground trails. Lovebirds can book a wedding ceremony in the underground "Steigerstube," or miners' parlor, followed by a champagne toast atop the emblematic pithead.
Show me the money
Who knew taxes could be fun? At Germany's exclusive Tax Museum, guests trace the history of taxation from Mesopotamian times, through the Middle Ages and today. From unbridled violence to constitutional obligation, the relationship between taxpayers and tax authorities is documented alongside artifacts like costumes and currency.
Death on display
Diverse hearses, coffins, and funeral monuments from the Middle Ages to present day comprise the collection at the Museum for Sepulchral Culture, a "museum of death." Death regalia and rituals are also on display. But, like the rooster coffin perched above, it's not all grim. The museum also arranges topic-relevant events ranging from scholarly papers to cabaret.
Documenting diversity
From a book reading about homosexuality in "The Simpsons" cartoon to an exhibit about gender classification, the Gay Museum documents gay and lesbian culture around the world. It is one of the largest and most significant institutions of its kind and recently expanded after receiving 644,000 euros ($850,000) in public funds. A new permanent exhibit is slated for 2015.
Starchy spectacles
Welcome to the only museum in the world dedicated to potato art, according to museum director Barbara Kosler. From ancient Incan jars to pop art in Warhol's footsteps, the Potato Museum in Munich celebrates the subterranean spud throughout eight thematic rooms. The current special exhibition features Vietnamese potato-carving artist Huyen Tran Chau.
Lederhosen optional
What does the Beer and Oktoberfest Museum have on tap? Aside from sampling the local beverage, guests can explore historical brewing tools and devices, including handwritten instructions from a Munich brewery dating back to 1487. The facility is housed in Munich's oldest townhouse, dating back to 1340.