Weird Museums: Icelandic Phallological (Penis) Museum

This week, I’ve chosen to highlight the Icelandic Phallological Museum. In other words, this museum is entirely made up of a collection of penises. Sigurdur Hjartarson, a historian and teacher, founded the museum in 1997. This was after his home collection of specimens was becoming too much for the family, and his wife told him that he needed to find somewhere else to keep the penises. Initially, the collection of penises were only from Iceland, but Thordur, the curator of the museum, says that they are now getting penises from all over the world. 

Looking for something fun to do in Iceland? Head to the penis museum - pride and joy of Sigurdur Hjartarson, founder and former curator [Image from phallus.is]

Thordur mentioned to me that the museum often receives unsolicited dick pics. He said “One of the more peculiar things in the day to day operation of the museum is replying to emails and messages from young men asking about their members. Often we get pictures along with the question: Is this average?”  Thordur married into the Phallological museum family. I asked him what his favorite part about working at the museum is, and he says it is the variety of specimens that he has seen. He says they are always discovering and learning at the museum, and he loves how many interesting people he has been able to meet from all over the world. 

Thordur mentioned that there was a human penis on display in the museum, and I of course had to do a bit of research on that. This led me to a Canadian documentary entitled “The Final Member.” This documentary is all about Sigurdur’s journey for procuring a human penis for his collection. He felt like the collection was not complete until it contained a human penis. He was really starting to get concerned about how much time he had left to live, and whether or not he would reach his goal.

Enter Pall Arason, a well-known Icelandic lady’s man. He decided he would donate his penis to the museum once he passed away. Around the same time, an American man by the name of Tom Mitchell, was also in communication with the museum about the prospect of donating his penis. Tom said that since he was young, he knew that he did not want his penis to go to waste. He is 7 inches flaccid, and the museum was excited about this offer, considering Mr. Arason was not that well-endowed. Tom says that his dream is for his penis to be the first true penis celebrity. I think it’s also worth mentioning that Tom refers to his penis as “Elmo.” Tom’s main concern was that he wanted to be the first human to donate their penis to the museum. Because of this, he was considering the idea of having it removed from his body before death. Suddenly, the race between Pall and Tom to become the first human penis on display at the Icelandic Phallological Museum was on. Now, this might be my own fault, but I was not expecting live nudity in this documentary. However, there was a whole section documenting Pall having a plaster mold made of his penis. Well obviously, and horrifically, the plaster got stuck BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T REMOVE ANY HAIR FROM HIS BODY and they had to use scissors and pliers to get it off. My jaw was literally on the floor. 

Soon after this, there was a very revealing segment on Tom getting his penis tattooed. Stars and stripes, right on the tip. He does appear to be circumcised, while Pall is not. They clearly both offer something different to the museum. Tom has the length, but Pall has the foreskin. There was a rift between Tom and Sigurdur at one point, and Tom decided he really needed to consider his options before donating to the Phallological Museum. Pall did eventually pass away, and the museum received his penis. Tom was upset to hear this news. He said he was “disappointed, but not devastated.” He believes there are other ways for Elmo to become the most famous penis in the world. 

One other thing that I learned from the documentary was that Sigurdur is quite the whittler. He has an entire cabinet of phallic objects that he has whittled. He’s made penis shaped salt and pepper shakers, and even a penis gavel, which was my personal favorite item. 

Penis-shaped Gavel [Photo by instagram user @algo509, used with permission]

Thordur and I took some time to discuss the pandemic, and what sort of impact that has had on the museum. He says they have taken every precaution to ensure the safety of their guests, but, like so many other businesses, they have had to close down temporarily. This is largely due to the fact that their visitors are mostly tourists. Thordur says they do take appointments for anyone who wants to come and visit. 

This pandemic has been so difficult for museums to navigate. We really want to invite anyone who has the means, to give to the museums that you hear about on this podcast. We want for the Icelandic Phallological Museum to still be in operation when life returns to normal. The only way that this can happen is if some of us are willing to give now, and ensure the longevity of these establishments. 

Sources and further reading:

https://phallus.is/en/ -Icelandic Phallological Museum website

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEGCz-Q2v7o -The Final Member Documentary

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Phallological_Museum -Wikipedia page for Phallological Museum

Listen to our podcast episode on the Icelandic Phallological Museum here