You might have visited the museum displaying the art exhibits or archaeological findings or artefacts of various kinds, but you must not have seen or heard museum about something that is used for disposal of human waste.
It sounds disgusting…isn’t it?
But such a weird museum exists in Delhi, the bustling capital of India. Delhi is popular for many things like Akshardham temple, Mughal monuments, and street food, but few have heard about Sulabh International Museum of Toilets. I have lived my whole life in Delhi and I was even surprised after discovering Sulabh toilet museum on Tripadvisor.
Sulabh toilet museum has been featured 3rd on the list of “The 10 Weirdest Museums in the World” in the TIME Magazine.
Sulabh Toilet Museum is not the only toilet museum in the world. In fact, there are three other toilet museums that I know of:
- Mr. Toilet House in Suwon, South Korea
- Museum of Toilet History in Kiev, Ukraine
- TOTO Museum in Kitakyushu, Japan
Sulabh toilet museum was built by world-renowned social activist and sociologist,
As you enter in the lawn area of the museum, you would be welcomed by models of the Sulabh designed toilets. These toilet uses two pits to store the waste. When one pit gets filled with waste, waste is redirected to other pits, thereby giving enough time for the waste to turn into manure.
On the left of the lawn lies the room which is the main part of the museum and contains all the exhibits. The toilet museum uses the write-ups, comic strip, and replicas of toilets to explain the evolution of toilets over five millennia. A free guided tour is provided by the volunteers of the museum.
The museum is divided into three sections – Ancient, Medieval, and Modern.
Table of Contents
Ancient
The use of sanitization toilets dates back to 2500 BC in Mohenjo-Daro (present-day Sindh, Pakistan) during Indus valley civilization.
Lothal, located in Gujarat, had all the houses built with a private toilet in 2300 BC. These toilets were connected to a covered sewage network through terracotta tubes.
Yes, I know, it is ironical since India still suffers from the problem of open defecation in many of its rural parts.
There are some other write-ups related to the use of toilet and drainage system in Rome and other parts of the world before the birth of Christ.
Medieval
One of the main attraction of the museum is King Louis XIV throne or should I say throne cum toilet, which allowed him to relieve himself during busy court sessions. If you think you have the shittiest job in the world, take two minutes to remember the king’s guards who had to stand alongside the king Louis.
Other medieval period toilets display includes:
Book styled French toilet
Mobile toilet van used by English while on the hunting.
Management supremacy is shown in the below replica of the toilet used in America in the early 20th century where the upper section of the toilet was used by management and lower section by the employee.
Sofa cum toilet – Too lazy to take your ass to the toilet, so why not poop on the sofa.
Table styled toilet
Victorian era toilets
PC: Sulabh Toilet Museum
PC: Sulabh Toilet Museum
One of the write-ups is dedicated to Sir John Harington who you may call as Father of flush toilets. He was the godson of Queen Elizabeth and invented the flush toilet for his godmother and himself. But he was mocked by his peers, and his device was not used by anyone except himself and the Queen.
Next time, when you hear somebody say “I am going to the John”, you know the origin of the word ‘John’.
Modern
Here you will see the write-up on NASA buying the space toilet from Russia for the International Space Station for $19 million which makes it the world’s costliest toilet. It employs vacuum instead of the flush and pumps urine to a filtering system that turns it into drinking water.
Modern toilet section displays the new age toilets developed and used in the world.
Porta Potti – portable chemical toilet from the USA for camping.
Hi-Tech Japanese toilet – Notice all the buttons on the left side; makes you wonder why need so many buttons just to wipe the ass.
Squat Toilet – This new age comfortable squat toilet developed in India for Indians and other countries with large scale squat toilet.
Solar powered African toilet – It uses sun and wind to provide the catalyst for liquids to evaporate and solid matter to dehydrate.
Incinolet – This toilet burns the waste at 1200 degree Fahrenheit. All the liquid waste evaporates and solid waste burn to disposable ashes.
Apart from this, the museum also makes clever use of funny charts and comic strips to add humour in an otherwise shitty subject.
How to reach the Sulabh Toilet Museum
Sulabh Toilet Museum is located at Dabri Road in West Delhi. You may reach there by taking Uber or Ola. If you are looking to go by metro, nearest metro station is Dashrathpuri metro station (Magenta line) which is 700 metres away. From there, you can take a rickshaw to reach the museum.
Address – Sulabh Bhawan, RZ-83, Palam Dabri Marg, Kali Nagar, Mahavir Enclave I, Mahavir Enclave Part 1, Mahavir Enclave, New Delhi, Delhi
Phone – +91 11 2503 1518, +91 11 2503 1519
Official website – http://www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org/
Opening Hours – 8 AM to 8 PM (Monday to Saturday), 10 AM to 5 PM (Sunday)
Suggested Duration – 1 hour
Ticket Cost – Free. A free guided tour is also provided.
Have you ever been to any weirder place? You may share in the comments below!!
Ha-ha, This is so funny. The World’s Shittiest Museum – good Title!
Your title made me laugh! I think this is something I would definitely visit – history and a little tongue in cheek laughs make it interesting!
Haha ive never heard of a museum like this before! Its very fascinating though to learn about the developments and progression in this field!
We have seen a lot of interesting museums on our travels. But we have never run across a toilet museum. I can see why it is on the list of top weirdest museums. I do find the toilet thrones to be fascinating. I did not know where the term “John” came from. But happy he invented the flush toilet! But I must admit that I was totally spoiled when I got used to the toilets in Japan and China (not the squat ones!!).
Hi-tech toilets in Japan have always fascinated me, though I have never used it. But I am pretty sure it would be an experience, lol
Lol, I love finding quirky museums on my travels and you probably can’t get much quirkier than this. But it looks quite fascinating too. Next time I’m in Delhi, I will pop by (not poop by lol )
Haha, very well use of words, Sarah. Toilet museum is the best museum I have ever visited. It was different, interesting and funny.
Epic post! Apart from the funny part it is soooo interesting to read about the toilets.. history and the different methods globally! However, even if it is the most expensive one, I am not sure if I could drink my own stuff in the space 😛
Haha. Yes, it would be gross
For some reason, not many people want to know about the developments in this field. But the comic strips were hilarious!
This is too funny. We take toilets for granted and to see the history must have been something. Now they’re telling us we’ve been doing it all wrong all the time, and there are a number of stepping stools and whatnot to ease the toilet experience. It’s always something!
Exactly Sarah. I mean the Japanese toilet just blows my mind. I think you definitely need manual to use it.
I have been to some shitty museums but this one takes the urinal cake. Great photos.
Haha. Your comment is like poop on the top