Sulabh Museum of Toilets

Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak is a man of vision. It just so happens that his particular vision heavily involves toilets.

But while it may at first glance appear to be just a “quirky” museum, the Sulabh Museum of Toilets gets to the heart a very real health problem in India. The lack of proper plumbing and access to modern toilet facilities lead to the death of some half a million children every year due to dehydration caused by open defecation.

With a battle cry of “No body should go outside for defecation and every house in India should have a toilet” Pathak has set about bringing modern sanitation to India and raising the status of India’s lowest caste the “untouchables.”

A small part of the so called “Sulabh Sanitation Movement” the museum of toilets in New Delhi serves to “educate students about the historical trends in the development of toilet… and help sanitation experts learn from the past and solve problems in the sanitation sector.”

Among the unusual toilets in the museums collection is a toilet that burns excrement into ash, a toilet disguised as a pile of books and a replica throne/toilet for French king Louis XIV so he could hear kingly business while doing his kingly business.