Museum of Broken Relationships

Frequent contributor Bruce just reminded me about The Museum of Broken Relationships which is dedicated to failed relationships. Zagreb-based artists Olinka Vištica and Drazen Grubišić came up with the idea as an art concept after they split up in 2006. Their permanent museum in Zagreb opened in 2010 and houses objects donated by people after their relationships have ended, each one telling the story of a broken heart.

A Child's Pedal Car

Prague, Czech Republic

I waited almost 40 years to learn the meaning of the word love. Unfortunately, the intensity of our emotions carried us from one extreme to another. When we loved one another, we loved without holding back. When we fought, we fought till it hurt. Thanks to her I climbed a tree for the first time in my life, and I did it at a time when my children were climbing trees. We enjoyed making each other's dreams come true. Each dream fulfilled was a joy to both of us. She knew that as a child I'd always wanted a car with pedals. But I never had one. I was over forty when one was given to me. She went for a walk with her sister and there it was, next to a trash container. They brought it back to the apartment, put it in the tub and washed it. They decorated it with little flowers and wrote my name, their nicknames and the date on its wheels. This car represents our love. It shows that when two people truly love one another, no dream is left unfulfilled.

A little rubber piggy

Feb 2012 - Jan 2013

Jerusalem, Israel

He gave me this piggy when we met on student exchange in the US. It was just a joke over how much he loves bacon and me never wanting to taste it as my heritage forbids it. Many evenings we spent together at home drinking some wine and cooking dinner. Loving and annoying each other. What goes first in the pan?! Enriching each other with family memories and favourite foods. How different our habits and clothes were, how different our food from Israel to Denmark. And yet we are so much the same. We loved each other purely and deeply, we loved our differences and we both knew that was part of our charm. Imagining our children was like imagining how it would feel to win the lottery. But for me it was too hard to change my path, to hurt my parents who only wished for me to be happy, with a Jewish boy. I made the wrong decision; one that was not fully and consciously my own. Here I am standing, 27 years old, like a toddler learning to walk, I’m learning I can make my own decisions in life, fully... Only now do I know, falling in love has changed my destiny and for this I am grateful. Maybe I evolved too late for this wonderful, wonderful person but I know it’s never too late to change. I’m giving you a glimpse at my piggy and a taste of our story, hoping we will all have the courage to consciously make our own decisions and the will to stand behind them. I will always follow my heart!

Apparently there is no shortage of memorabilia from failed relationships and a second museum has opened in Los Angeles to house more poignant objects.

I first posted about the collection here way back in 2009.