List of sex museums

For the Spanish hard rock group, see Sex Museum (band).

A sex museum is a museum that displays erotic art, historical sexual aids, and documents on the history of erotica. They were popular in Europe at the end of the 1960s and during the 1970s, the era of the sexual revolution. Since the 1990s, these museums have tended to be designated erotic museums or erotic art museums rather than sex museums.

Asia

China

• The first sex museum in China opened in 1999 in the center of Shanghai; in 2001 it moved to the outskirts of the city. It was variously called "Museum of Ancient Chinese Sex Culture" or "Dalin Cultural Exhibition" after its founder, sexologist Dr. Liu Dalin. In early 2004 it moved again, to Tong Li, and is now known as the China Sex Museum, with over three thousand erotic artifacts. ^{[1] [2]}
• Love Land was a planned sex museum in China, but construction was suspended by the Chinese government. ^[3]

India

• The Antarang Museum, India's first sex museum, opened in Mumbai in 2002. It eventually shut down due to a lack of business. ^[4]

Japan

"Beppu Hihōkan", a sex museum next to the Shiraike-Jigoku in the Kannawa Spa in Beppu, Ōita, Japan.

• In Japan, there are many sex museums called Hihokan across the country. They are located in amusement centers in popular sightseeing spots or destination spa resorts, and are usually run by individuals, not by organizations. They date back to the 1960s–70s; more recently such amusement resorts for older men have declined, and most sex museums closed in the 1990s-2000s. ^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]}

South Korea

• South Korea's first sex museum, Asia Eros Museum, opened in the Insadong neighborhood in Seoul in 2003. The museum has since closed. ^[10] After a five-year legal battle, private collector Kim Whan Bae opened the Museum of Sex and Health in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, in March 2006. ^[11]
• Love Land Park on Jeju Island, South Korea, opened in 2004. It is an outdoor sculpture park focused on a theme of sex, running sex education films, and featuring 140 sculptures representing humans in various sexual positions.

Australia

• The small National Museum of Erotica in Canberra opened in 2001. The museum closed soon after, although the collection continued to grow. ^[12]

Europe

Holland

• Sexmuseum Amsterdam opened in 1985.

France

• The Museum of Eroticism in Paris opened in 1997 and closed in 2016. ^[13]

Germany

The Erotic Art Museum in Hamburg's Reeperbahn.

• The Erotic Art Museum near the Reeperbahn in Hamburg opened in 1992. ^[14]
• The Beate Uhse Erotic Museum in Berlin opened in 1996 and closed in 2014. It claimed to be "the world's largest erotic museum". ^[15]

Denmark

• The Museum Erotica in Copenhagen opened in 1993. ^[16] It was closed in 2009 due to financial problems.

Spain

• The Museo de la Erotica in Barcelona opened in 1996. ^[17]

Russia

• The first Russian sex museum opened in 2004 in Saint Petersburg; it claims to exhibit the preserved penis of Rasputin. ^{[18] [19]} However, experts are divided about the truth of this claim and it’s not scientifically proven to be his. It was allegedly sold to the museum in 1977 by Rasputin’s lion-tamer daughter, Maria. ^[20]
• Moscow's first sex museum, named "Tochka G" ('G Spot') opened in 2011. ^[21]

Italy

• While not specifically a sex museum, the National Archaeological Museum in Naples opened its extensive collection of historic erotic art in its Secret Cabinet to the public in 2000. Most of the exhibits are from Greek and Roman times, and many were recovered from nearby Pompeii. ^[22]
• The Museo d'Arte Erotica in Venice, devoted to the city's erotic history and showing historical and contemporary erotic art, opened in February 2006 ^[23] and closed after being open for less than seven months. ^[24]

Great Britain

• The Secretum, or Cupboard 55, was a secret collection containing erotic objects at the British Museum in London.
• The Vagina Museum in London was established in 2017. ^[25]

Czech Republic

• The Sex Machines Museum in Prague, Czech Republic, contains "an exposition of mechanical erotic appliances, the purpose of which is to bring pleasure and allow extraordinary and unusual positions during intercourse." On display in the museum are "more than 200 objects and mechanical appliances on view, a gallery of art with erotic themes, a cinema with old erotic films, erotic clothing and many other items related to human sexuality. ^[26]

Lithuania

• The first erotic museum in Lithuania opened in Kaunas on 13 July 2009.

Greece

• Athens's first sex museum, "Kama Sutra: the World Museum of Erotic Art", opened in 2012. ^[27]

Poland

• The Erotic Museum in Warsaw, the first sex museum in Poland, opened in 2011 with over 2,000 exhibits. It reveals the erotic fascinations of artists from all continents. ^[28] The museum closed at the beginning of 2012.

Ukraine

• The Museum of Sexual Cultures opened in Kharkiv in 1999. ^[29]

Iceland

• The Icelandic Phallological Museum in Reykjavík, Iceland, opened in 1997. ^[30]

North America

The entrance to the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago, United States.

• The Kinsey Institute in Bloomington, Indiana was established in 1947 and merged with Indiana University in 2016. ^[31]
• The Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago was founded in 1991 by Chuck Renslow and Tony DeBlase as a "community archives, library, and museum of Leather, kink, fetish, and BDSM history and culture." ^{[32] [33]}
• The Museum of Sex in New York City opened in 2002. ^[34]
• The Hollywood Erotic Museum in Hollywood opened in January 2004 and closed in 2006. ^[35]
• The World Erotic Art Museum in Miami Beach opened on October 16, 2005. ^[36]
• The Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas opened on August 3, 2008. ^[37]
• The Sexploratorium's Educational Sex Museum in Denver, Colorado opened in August 2024. ^[38]

South America

• The Museu do Sexo Hilda Furacão opened in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil in 2016. ^[39]

Virtual museums

• The Vaginamuseum is a virtual museum that launched in 2014. ^[40]
• 6d745 Museum is a virtual museum established in 2023 by erotic artist Megumi Igarashi. ^{[41] [42]}

See also

• Erotic art
• History of erotic depictions

References

1. Travel Channel – Error Archived 2005-11-18 at the Wayback Machine
2. China Sex Museum Archived 2005-08-18 at the Wayback Machine
3. "Sexually explicit theme park torn down". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2009-05-18. Archived from the original on 2024-11-12. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
4. Rathod, Shreya (2022-12-15). "There Was Once A Sex Museum In India". Curly Tales. Archived from the original on 2024-11-12. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
5. "熱海秘宝館". www.chowchow.gr.jp. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
6. "鬼怒川秘宝殿". www.chowchow.gr.jp. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
7. "鳥羽SF未来館". www.chowchow.gr.jp. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
8. "元祖国際秘宝館". www.chowchow.gr.jp. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
9. "別府秘宝館". www.chowchow.gr.jp. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
10. Gluck, Caroline (May 24, 2003). "Sex museum opens in Seoul". BBC News. Archived from the original on January 29, 2008. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
11. Yetter, Christian (February 6, 2011). "Sex museum seeks to educate, not to shame". The Jeju Weekly. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
12. "National Museum of Erotica". Body politics home page. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
13. "Document sans nom". www.musee-erotisme.com. Archived from the original on 25 June 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
14. "Erotic Art Museum Hamburg". www.eroticartmuseum.de. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
15. "Beate Uhse Erotik-Museum". Archived from the original on 28 August 2005. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
16. "Museum-Erotica". Museum Erotica. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
17. "Erotic Museum of Barcelona". www.erotica-museum.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
18. "The First Russian Sex Museum will Exhibit Rasputin's Penis". waytorussia.net. 7 August 2009. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
19. Kristin Winet (24 June 2015). "Rasputin Was Poisoned, Shot, Beaten, and Drowned. But Did His Penis Survive?" . Retrieved 14 October 2019.
20. "Rasputin myths busted: Murder, height, and where is his penis?". Metro. October 28, 2021. Archived from the original on January 13, 2024. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
21. "Art and design, Art (visual arts only), World news, Russia (News), Life and style, Sex (Life & style), Culture, South and Central Asia (News)". The Guardian. London. July 12, 2011.
22. "Naples museum exposes public to ancient erotica". CNN. Archived from the original on May 18, 2009. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
23. "museodarteerotica.it". www.museodarteerotica.it. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
24. "Erotic museum reaches anti-climax". Italy Magazine. 12 December 2006.
25. Paskett, Zoe (2019-09-18). "World's first Vagina Museum will open in Camden Market this autumn". The Standard. Archived from the original on 2024-11-11. Retrieved 2024-11-11.
26. "SexMachinesMuseum". SexMachinesMuseum. 1997-02-26. Archived from the original on 2013-05-23. Retrieved 2013-06-17.
27. "Ανακοινωση – Αναγγελια Πολιτιστικου Γεγονοτος" [Notice – Announcement of a Cultural Event]. Erotica Museum (in Greek). Greece. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Ιδρύθηκε και άρχισε να λειτουργεί το παγκόσμιο Μουσείο Ερωτικής Τέχνης "Καμα Σουτρα", επί της οδού Καποδιστρίου 44 στην πλατεία Βάθης από 12/2/12. [The World Museum of Erotic Art "Kama Sutra" was founded and started to operate, on 44 Kapodistriou Street in Vathis Square from 12/2/12.]
28. (in English) "Museum history". muzeumerotyki.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-08-27.
29. "Музей секса и сексуальных культур мира". Музей секса и сексуальных культур мира (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2022-04-09. Retrieved 2024-11-11.
30. Pielak, Alex (2011-07-11). "Welcome to Iceland's penis museum – the world's largest collection of all things phallic". Metro. Archived from the original on 2022-05-12. Retrieved 2024-11-11.
31. Nietzel, Michael. "The Kinsey Institute Will Remain At Indiana University". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
32. "About the LA&M - Leather Archives & Museum". Leatherarchives.org. Archived from the original on 2023-07-03. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
33. Ridinger, Robert (2005). "Founding of the Leather Archives & Museum". LGBT History, 1988-1992 [serial online]. LGBT Life with Full Text, EBSCOhost: 33–36.
34. "Museum of Sex - NYC". MoSEX. Archived from the original on 25 February 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
35. Harvey, Steve (2006-05-07). "End of an Eros for Hollywood's Erotic Museum". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2020-06-12. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
36. "WEAM - World Erotic Art Museum - WEAM - World Erotic Art Museum". www.weam.com. Archived from the original on 8 November 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
37. "2008 - Living Las Vegas". Living Las Vegas. 31 December 2008. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
38. "Sex Museum". Sexploratorium. Archived from the original on 2024-09-07. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
39. Maria Cruz, Márcia (2016-06-14). "Museu do Sexo resgata memória da zona boêmia de Belo Horizonte". Estado de Minas (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2024-11-11. Retrieved 2024-11-11.
40. ""Vagina und Penis sind nicht pornografisch"". jetzt.de (in German). 2014-06-13. Archived from the original on 2024-11-11. Retrieved 2024-11-11.
41. "'It's not here - Considerations on Reality as Virtual Universe". artlab-tokyo.com. Retrieved 2023-09-09.
42. "6d745 Museum". 6d745.com. Retrieved 2025-08-24.