South Korean city of Suwon has opened what it says is “the world’s first toilet theme park”.
The Restroom Cultural Park has a museum displaying Roman style loos, European-style bedpans, and ancient Korean flush toilets, as well as fun facts about human waste and a sculpture garden dedicated to squatting figures.
To answer the question on everyone’s mind – What the…? – we should first look at a little background on Suwon city.
This city located outside of Seoul is well known for two things. First, the great Hwaseong Fortress ranks among UNESCO’s world heritage and has ruins which run throughout the city. Second is their recently deceased mayor who was known affectionately as Mr. Toilet.
Mr. Toilet’s greatest passion was improving the conditions of Korea’s public toilets by teaching people about the importance of proper toilet maintenance. Around the time of the World Cup in Korea there was a surge of public awareness aimed at improving the conditions of public toilets spearheaded by the mayor. His crowning achievement was a house erected in 2007 in the shape of a giant toilet in Suwon which is operated by the World Toilet Organization.
The effort was a huge success and the people of Suwon now boast many of their public restrooms as sightseeing spots. Following Mr. Toilet’s death, the citizens donated money to build this commode themed wonderland in his honor.
Details of the park are sketchy at the moment and it’s not sure if this is so much a “theme park” in the sense of roller coasters and giant mice of simply a park with many toilet related displays around.
The park is said to exhibit various public toilets, ancient roman toilets, European toilets from the Middle ages, and even a flushing toilet said to exist in Korea 1000 years ago. Also you can find some bronze statues of people doing the deuce complete with strained expressions on their faces which leads me to believe the sculptor isn’t getting enough fiber.
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