and how can you mend a broken heart ©katerha
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What do a a prosthetic leg, a garden gnome and a teddy bear have in common? They are all on display at the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb Croatia. The museum, located just across from City Hall, where happy couples get married, currently displays some 100 donated “relics.” The pieces are displayed alongside written testimonies telling tales heartbreak.
The mementos–nearly 1,000 pieces collected from all over the world–seem random, but each piece is accompanied by the dates and locations of the relationships they represent and notes written by their anonymous donors.
Some of the notes are humourous, like this one next to a garter belt:
“I never put them on. The relationship might have lasted longer if I had.”
Some of the notes are bitter. The garden gnome flew over a car driven by a husband who turned “arrogant and heartless.” It bounced on the asphalt, shattering its face.
The museum itself was born from the ashes of a broken relationship. When co-founders Drazen Grubisic and Olinka Vistica, split up, they struggled dividing up their sentimental memorabilia. Since they didn’t want to just get rid of it, they created a museum.
Unsurprisingly, on Valentine’s Day visits to the museum almost double.
Grubisic says that visitors and donors find the museum therapeutic.
“They can move on,” he said. “They [the pieces] also show there’s something universal: We all have been brokenhearted at least once.”
Read more at MSNBC.