The Final Member

Hello!

- Excellent.

- Here you go, theyre great.

Thanks.

Well, this is a bladdernose seal.

And here's the smallest of the

whales, the common porpoise,

with both testicles.

And this is a penis

from a harbour seal.

A beautiful specimen

with the testicles.

These are absolutely fantastic.

Absolutely fabulous.

This started as a joke

with a bull's penis in 1974.

I was 33 years old

and it was in the town

of Akranes in the south

where I was the headmaster

of a secondary school.

One of my teachers gave it to me

at a party just as a joke.

That was the first.

This museum presents phalluses

or penises from the animal kingdom.

With all the artistic pieces around

as well.

Here it is, the bull's penis

that my teacher gave me.

The one that gave me the idea

to start collecting.

So this was what started everything.

This is the biggest specimen

I've got so far.

It's from a sperm whale,

but this is just one third

of the length of the organ.

This is the part that leaks out

when the animal dies.

This is a penis bone

from a cave bear,

a species that got extinct

10, 15 thousand years ago.

So this is, this is very rare

and very precious to me.

I've been collecting

for almost 40 years now.

I'm almost 70.

And I've got foxes, minks,

house mouse, field mouse,

rats, brown rats, black rats,

pigs, horses, rams, bulls, reindeer,

polar bear, seals, walruses,

harbour seal, grey seal,

sperm whale,

humpback, minke whale,

killer whale, dolphins.

I've got them all.

I've got specimens from

all mammalian species except one.

A proper human.

Without the proper human,

the collection is not complete.

My dad has been collecting penises

as long as I remember.

I think for me it was

quite, you know, normal.

Just part of, you know,

the family life

to bring home

a new specimen for the museum.

Or for the collection,

it wasn't a museum then.

It was a private collection at home.

Just for display,

for guests and so on.

It was shocking for people

to come into his home.

Hed filled up his whole house with

all types of penises in formaldehyde.

He wasnt afraid

of what other people thought.

More and more penises

kept coming into the house.

Then it got out of control, so we told him

he had to open a museum.

And I opened it

with an opening ceremony, in style.

On the 23rd of August, '97.

That's my birthday as well.

BIRTHDAY SONG IN ICELANDIC

Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!

We have anniversaries on

the same day, me and the museum.

It was great.

There was more space at home.

So I was happy.

We started when I was 17

and she was 18.

We've been together 52 years now.

I would never have been able to do

the museum without her support.

Quite a few people thought,

of course,

that I was a pervert

or something like that

to start with...

start collecting penises.

Most people, some people may have

thought it absolutely nonsensical.

Or, or idiotic.

But when people realised

there's nothing pornographic there,

they just...

Well, they may start thinking,

why is he doing it?

What... what is his concept

of presenting this to us?

The museum developed

almost naturally

but echoes many of

the approaches to the world

that you see within his teaching.

Especially the question of something

that mustn't be talked about.

And there's...

Anything that Siggi comes across

that mustn't be talked about,

for him it must be talked about

straight away, let's discuss this.

Did you know that?

Ah, you knew that. Great.

This is very, very important for me

to inform people or educate people.

I think this serves or helps

decreasing taboos

about this human body.

About this, especially about this

organ I'm presenting here.

This is the smallest item

in the museum.

A penis bone from a hamster.

It's less than two millimetres.

As a professional teacher

for 37 years, I like telling people.

I like informing people.

The testicles weighed 972 kilos.

Look at this one.

This is an American possum.

And it has two. Did you know?

We look at the historical record

and we see all kinds of variations

in how much we can

talk openly about penises.

It's odd that we in the 21st century

tend to fall on

a very conservative point of view.

Why is it for us in the 21st century

that the penis is so taboo?

Salt... and pepper.

I've been carving

for 30 years or something.

I started carving things

like this gavel.

Just in the same line as other

things in the museum, you see.

So this is the official gavel

of the director of the institute,

the Icelandic Institute

of Phallology.

It's a good gavel.

This took me weeks.

So... this is pretty heavy

but it's a complete mini-bar

or travel bar with two small bottles

and a measure.

If you have guests, you can

bring their schnapps on this trowel.

It's just like something

you want to create.

You don't know

what the end result will be.

This is my Christmas cutlery,

you know?

A fork, knife and a spoon.

The museum's getting

greater attention now

than it's ever

done before

and I think

more or less...

the word is spreading worldwide.

And it's been a lot of interest

shown by media

from all over the world

who's been flocking up to Husavik.

From a sperm whale?

Yes, it beached in Hrutarfjordur.

We dont want this on our shoes.

- Are you wearing dress shoes?

- Yes, nice ones.

Hello, I'm Carol Off.

Good evening, I'm Jeff Douglas.

And this is 'As It Happens'.

The world's only penis museum

has not yet managed to secure

even one of a specimen

of which there are billions.

Mr Hjartarson, why is it

so difficult, do you think

to get a human penis

for your museum?

I've been collecting

for 33 years now

and I'm still waiting

for a human one.

These bodies are all over, you know?

And some of them

are just cut up for... to pieces.

Why haven't I been able

to get a human specimen from there?

Without specific legal permission

given by an individual

you cannot acquire

any part of his body.

Everybody knowing everybody

in Iceland,

this is a sensitive matter,

you know?

Because we are so few

and a specimen would hardly get

to me without the nametag on it.

Nobody would notice if somebody

was buried with one kidney.

Well, he just gave it away,

or we gave it away.

But if he was buried without

a penis, this would be a...

Well, even he or his family

could be a laughing stock, you know?

So this is a part of the taboo

or the fringe

of talking about these things.

The museum wont be completed

until he gets this human penis.

Its like when you have

a series of something

and youre missing one piece

in the series.

Until then, the museum isnt quite real.

People want to build monuments

or leave something behind.

I think this is also a part of it.

It's his, you know,

chance to do something

and leave

something remarkable behind.

My health has deteriorated

this year.

This is worrying me a little.

Because you start thinking that you

haven't got so many years left.

Siggi told me

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