Romance Non-Fiction posted November 20, 2024


True story for the Nonfiction Club Challenge

Museum of Broken Relationships

by June Sargent


She was the first woman he ever asked to move in with him. His friends were glad he was finally becoming more open to people.

After living happily together for a few months, he had an opportunity to visit a friend in America - but could not take her with him. She cried and insisted she couldn't live without him for three whole weeks!

When he returned from his vacation, she announced that she had met and fallen in love with someone else. He immediately kicked her out - but her furniture remained in his apartment.

To release some of his anger, he bought an axe and decided to take it out on her furniture - one piece a day. By the time she came to collect them two weeks later, the pieces of wood were piled neatly into bundles. She took the trash out - leaving behind his broken heart.

However, he did feel much better after those sessions with the axe and later donated it to the Museum of Broken Relationships in Croatia - as a therapeutic tool!

This unique museum based in Zagreb, Croatia, labels itself as a museum of "emotional history." It welcomes donations of mementos that are associated with broken hearts, broken dreams and broken relationships.  

In addition to the axe mentioned in this story, there is a plush Snoopy toy that a woman had received from her high school sweetheart when she was 17.  After 30 years of marriage, he left her and their family for another woman.  He said he never really loved her.

There is also a stylish pair of tan boots that a man had bought to impress his mistress.  One night his wife found the boots next to an open phone with a picture of him wearing them - he had just texted the image to his new lady love.

His wife took the boots, boxed them up and, after their divorce, mailed them to this museum.  The guy never knew what happened to those boots that were definitely "made for walking."

You can check out other donated items online - or in person. And new donations are always welcome! 





There is an actual museum that exhibits these sad mementos in Croatia. Look it up online.

https://brokenships.com/

That is why I thought this would be a good choice for the Weirdest Museums club challenge. And that is a photo of the actual axe.

Club entry for the "Weirdest Museum" event in "Flash Fiction/Nonfiction".  Locate a writing club.
Pays one point and 37 member cents.


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