The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities
London has more museums than anywhere else in England and I think I may have just located its most unusual. Tucked behind Hackney’s fried chicken shops and green grocers is a modern-day cabinet of curiosities that’s guaranteed to intrigue as much as disgust. The Viktor Wynd Museum Of Curiosities is a museum-come-bar where you can enjoy a Zombie cocktail and a crocodile burger (vegetarian options available on request!) while admiring skeletons and eclectic fine art – some of which is for sale. But it’s down a narrow, winding staircase where you’ll find the most bizarre curios displayed in what’s called The Wunderkabinett.
Modelled on the cabinets of curiosity, or ‘wonder rooms’, of days gone by, this unusual museum was originally part of Wynd’s Little Shop Of Horrors and is the headquarters of his pataphysical organisation The Last Tuesday Society. For a small fee, you can explore the artist and collector’s ever-growing collection of the weird and wonderful. There’s one display cabinet dedicated to Dandy of the Underworld Sebastian Horsley, who died in 2010, while another houses specimen jars, macabre dolls and shrunken heads. There’s even a fossilised fairy and what appears to be the remains of a grotesque mermaid on display as well.If you’re still hungry for more, the museum hosts regular events, including lectures, taxidermy courses (using ethically-sourced animal corpses) and a mini petting zoo, where you can get up close to boa constructors, tarantulas and bearded dragons. The Viktor Wynd Museum Of Curiosities is at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP. It’s about a 15 minute walk from Bethnal Green tube or around five minutes from Cambridge Heath overground. For the latest opening hours, entry fee and events visit www.thelasttuesdaysociety.org.
Alchemy’s affordable Corvus Alchemica [V16] resin raven’s skull and matching pewter Rabeschadel Choker [P736] and ring [R201] look like they’d fit right in with Wynd’s creepy collections!
Natasha Scharf is the author of the books ‘The Art of Gothic’ (Omnibus Press/Backbeat Books) and ‘Worldwide Gothic’ (Independent Music Press).