The coup de cava that one is offered upon stepping into Barcelona’s museum of erotica affords the whole experience a veneer of sophistication, as though one is ambling through the galleries of the Louvre in Paris or the Tate Modern in London, rather than between rooms festooned with pornographic images and pleasure devices.
This museum is actually a deeply fascinating place to visit. Don’t come here in search for erotic titillation. Rather, the curated displays take visitors on a captivating historical journey of humanity’s relationship with sex through the ages, featuring such highlights as the distinctly uncomfortable-looking ‘pleasure chair’ and the erotic film collection of former Spanish King Alfonso XIII (who was deposed in the 1930s, during the Spanish revolution).
Casually flicking through online comments about the museum, they seem to be either gushing with praise or dismayed by the tackiness of the place. Those that are heaping high praise upon the place are clearly fake reviews written by the museum’s management (that’s why you need a reliable travel source such as City Trail Publishing, folks), while those rating the museum a single star are bewilderingly prudish. We’d be tempted to rate this place an upper three or a four-star experience (out of five).
There is, of course, such inevitable amusements as the giant moving penis that visitors can sit on and the chair that is shaped like a woman’s vulva. But beyond such objects of cheap titillation, there is a wealth of information that one can absorb.
The museum is not particularly big, but you can easily spend an hour or two getting lost in all that it has to offer.
Throughout the 14 rooms, visitors are offered an insight into how sex has been perceived by different cultures over the centuries, learning which civilisations were the most enlightened (the Romans, apparently) and which civilisations were less tolerant.
The authentic artefacts in the museum (such as the weird and wonderful pleasure devices invented over the years) bring the place to life, while the fascinating descriptions pinned to the walls are certain to leave a lasting impression on visitors’ minds.
The price (€13.50 per person) may be a little on the high side, but you do get a free glass of bubbly with the ticket – and the museum is so central (right on La Rambla) that charging a high entrance fee is practically mandatory.
Definitely worth a visit, though, if you have any interest at all in the erotic.
