The history of poop has never been this fascinating.
Back in the year 2000, Prague-resident Jan Sedlacek bought the ruins of the 10th-century Třebotov fortress in hopes of renovating it into a sprawling home. While working on it, they stumbled on an older stone wall. “It was a medieval room called a privete (from the Latin locus privatus). On the same wall, there was a baroque extension, in which a dry toilet with a pit was placed.” [Muzeum historických nočníků a toalet, o.p.s.]
And so a collection (and an obsession) was born.
It took the owners several years of digging through junk shops, visiting auctions and calling antique houses to put the displays together. Later on, they started adding rarities found online, some from distant corners across the globe.
The toilet museum now houses over 2000 items that date back as far as the 15th century. Aside from chamber pots of all sizes and materials, the collection also includes toilet chests, ceramic toilets, chair toilets, bourdaloue (basically, a tiny ceramic porta potty for 17th century women). Some of the most unique items include a chamber pot rescued from the Titanic, one used by Napoleon and one that once belonged in Lincoln’s bedroom in the White House.
There’s also toilet related art (really) on the walls and a small collection of related items – from antique toilet paper to personal hygiene items to postcards.
