Toilet History Museum

This cute museum housed inside a 19th-century fortress with a harsh history delves into a not-so-cute topic: toilets. Little latrines and lavatories fill the space, offering a fun, quirky look at an often taboo part of everyday life.

Kyiv’s Toilet History Museum is flush with toilet tidbits and facts you probably didn’t learn in a history class. You’ll discover how toilets looked 5,000 years ago, why medieval toilets were called “wardrobes,” and how a toilet invented by Leonardo da Vinci functioned (though there are some doubts about this latter contraption). 

The toilet museum covers the many types of commodes throughout history, from Egyptian limestone toilet seats to the mechanics of a modern-day loo. It aims to explore culture and history through the lens of an everyday experience shared by people around the world.

The museum contains the largest collection of toilet souvenirs in the world. Among the 580 toilet trinkets, you’ll find traditional statuettes of the porcelain throne as well as various ashtrays, key rings, lighters, and tobacco pipes in the form of a water-closet. Be sure to keep an eye out for the humorous bathroom signs, too. You can also see different toiletries, like the tools and contraptions people once used instead of soap.