Do you want to get into the Middle Ages and see with your own eyes how heretics, criminals and other people who were considered enemies of the people by the Inquisition were punished? Then head to the Museum of Medieval Torture. The organizers of such exhibitions have thought of everything: visitors are immersed in the atmosphere of that time…
Why torture was necessary
Today's people are quite difficult to realize what happened many, many years ago in Europe in the Middle Ages. And the point here is not so much about the frequent and cruel punishments of the guilty and the innocent, but about the fact that all medieval torture was a farce, combining cruelty, bloodiness and fun for the public!
Torture of the Middle Ages is a forced measure to combat crimes against faith. Initially, torture chambers were invented as a preventive measure only for true criminals. However, soon the servants of the Inquisition became bold and were ready to mock any person who did not please them.
This is the cruelty of torture! If you think that needlesdriven under the fingernails of a criminal - this is hellish pain, then you know nothing about torture. This is childish babble compared to what the Inquisition came up with in the Middle Ages.
Witch Hunt
In an era called the "witch hunt", people lived in fear and horror. It was enough just to cough during a sermon, as the priest immediately recognized a possessed demon in a person. After that, the poor fellow was waiting for a painful and long death in the form of torture, for example, on the so-called "stretching bench" (see the figure above), ending with his burning at the stake.
Medieval torture at the Prague Museum
To all lovers of Gothic art and just people who want to see torture chambers from the inside, we recommend visiting the Museum of Torture Instruments in Prague. The Holy Inquisition and sophisticated punishments of that time are a recognizable and extensive historical part of the European history of the Middle Ages. They are the main theme of the Prague Museum of Torture. It is located near the Old Town Square - on Celetna street, house 10.
The instruments of torture presented in this museum were once collected from all over Europe. In this museum, you can not only see them, but even touch them with your hands. The Prague Museum of Torture is famous for its rather wide exposition, which includes almost 60 copies of various tools and devices for torturing people. According to some reports, some of these weapons have come down to us in their original form straight from the distant year 1110!
What is rich in the Prague Museum of Medieval Torture
This museum is divided into several rooms representing different ages. Accordingly, each of them contains exhibits of tools belonging to a particular time. Here you can see the famous spiked chair, the so-called Spanish boot, and the chastity belt. And in the Prague Museum there are chairs for witches, skull crushers, chairs with teeth, tongs, braziers, etc. In general, if you are in Prague, be sure to visit this museum. You won't regret it!
Museum of the History of Corporal Punishment in Moscow
Its second name is the Moscow Museum of Torture on the Arbat. It should also be visited by all residents and guests of the capital. The Museum of the History of Corporal Punishment has a huge exposition: a large collection of instruments of physical influence on a medieval person, tools for torture. All this makes us think that the era of the Middle Ages was by no means as romantic as various authors describe it in their romance novels.
Of course, exhibitions of various medieval tools and instruments for corporal punishment of people are presented in many museums in Europe, but the Museum of Torture in Moscow is unique in its own way. The organizers of this exhibition thought through all the marketing moves and decided to create it not in the style of a trash or horror show, as it looks in other European museums, but to consider all the available attributes of torture and executions as real medieval realities, without additional staging.
Moscow Museumcorporal punishment from the inside
The Moscow Museum of Torture on the Arbat is a special atmosphere of the Middle Ages. Visit it and you will understand everything! You are expected daily from 12 to 22 o'clock at the address: Arbat street, house 25/36. Here are collected all kinds of devices necessary for all kinds of oppression of a person and mockery of him through physical influence. Here you can see the legendary "chastity belts" of that era, shackles, racks, streamers and much more.
Like the Prague Museum, the Moscow Museum of Torture has in stock a significant part of the exact copies (reconstructions) of torture instruments and instruments, which in their original form are practically not preserved anywhere. Therefore, they had to be recreated according to old descriptions and drawings. Another plus of this museum is engravings illustrating the technique of medieval mockery of people. They are located on the walls of the museum.
Museum of Torture in St. Petersburg
This is another museum that tells us about the cruelty and ruthlessness of the servants of the Inquisition towards people of various origins. You can find it on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Let's make a reservation right away, the area of this museum is not as large as that of the Moscow and Prague museums, but there are practically no fewer exhibits in it, there is something to see. The guides of this museum will gladly answer all your questions regarding medieval torture.
The Museum of Torture in St. Petersburg has several original reconstructions of medieval tools forbullying people. And it is impossible to keep silent about them. So, now we will briefly introduce you to the fruit of sophisticated human fantasies.
- "Horse". This instrument of torture was a large horizontal triangle, the upper edge of which was very sharp. It was on her that criminals were put on top, tying weights to their feet. The meaning of such torture is that the victim was sitting on a rather sharp edge, which crashed into the crotch and gradually cut the person from the bottom up.
- "Interrogation Chair". No European torture museum is complete without this famous exhibit. The victim was stripped naked and seated on a chair equipped with many iron spikes. At the slightest movement, the needles began to dig into the body. Often such torture continued for weeks, but if the victim did not give up, the executioners used the red-hot tongs technique, but that's another story.
- "Gossip Violin". The punishment got its name because of the shape of this instrument of bullying people. Wooden blocks resembled a violin. With the help of such a “violin”, liars, slanderers and gossips were punished. The hands and neck of the victim were firmly fixed in the pose of a praying person (see photo above). This provoked a complete violation of blood circulation. Such torture brought the victim very severe pain, after which it was simply unrealistic to survive!
