“Museum of Lies” in Radebeul

The “Museum of Lies” invites little and mature guests to discover strange and miraculous things. However, who expects dusty exhibits behind glazed vitrines is on the wrong track. The “Museum of Lies” does all credit to its name because actually it isn’t even a museum.

Firstly you are welcomed with a freshly brewed up tea of lies after an old recipe of Hildegard von Bingen. Side effects: long nose, red face, short legs. According to the legend Emma von Hohenbüssow founded the museum in 1884 for her collection of things, which doesn’t exist. Thus you can find the missing Kyritzer Knatter, a hole from Mozart’s magic flute or the original tone of the sinking of the Titanic twenty minutes after.

Actually the museum doesn’t address lies, in fact it is all about illusions and mysterious stories, hidden truths and obscure phenomena. According to the philosophy “A lie in the service of the truth washes the dust of the everyday life from the stars”, artist and free spirit Reinhard Zabka runs the museum since 1990. After the first station in the town Kyritz in Brandenburg, in September 2012 the museum moved to the old inn of Serkowitz in Radebeul. In nine rooms you can find the complete artistic work of Reinhard Zabka, which he defines as Maximalism. And this is not a lie: In every corner of the inn it cracks, whistles, hisses and flashes. Haunted houses of Bali, a flying carpet, Elvis in the cupboard, Eva Brauns typewriter, puppets from Burma and countless other absurd collages, rattling curiosities and turning installations make it impossible to grasp all objects and leave the museum without a stimulus satiation.

The museum riddles, surprises and carries the imagination in odd spheres. A deeper sense must not become accessible, however the “Museum of Lies” is a miraculous world for Dadaists, a weird cabinet of absurdity and a winking place of pilgrimage for all the liars of this world.

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All photos ©Kai Bergmann