A toilet museum opened up in Suwon, South Korea last year. Also called Haewoojae, or the Toilet Culture Exhibit Hall / Theme Park, the museum opened in July 2012 and the building it is located in is made in the shape of a toilet. The toilet house, which you may have noticed in our top 10 list of weird houses, was the brainchild of one Sim Jae-Duck, the man who founded the World Toilet Association. The oddly-shaped home, which cost about $1 million to build, was made to help spread awareness of toilet hygiene. The late Sim Jae-Duck was nicknamed Mr. Toilet, partly because he was born in one and partly because he ran a campaign to improve South Korea’s toilet systems.
“Haewoojae” – the Toilet Museum in South Korea
Kids admiring the squatting bronze figures.
Mr. Toilet’s surviving family members donated the home to the city on the condition that it becomes a toilet museum/theme park. The museum dedicates itself to bathroom culture around the world and the importance of this great invention, which dates back as far as 2800 B.C. The park, open from 10-6 daily (closed Mondays), features sculptures and exhibits, including art works (with toilet themes), a garden showing bronze figures in different squatting poses, and bathroom signs from different places around the world.
Sources: Haewoojae Official Site, Ripleys, BBC
The Toilet House in South Korea was designed by the late Sim Jae-Duck.
