Add this to the ever lengthening list of things that South Korea has given the world.
Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Psy of Gangnam-Style fame, Little Psy, of Gangnam-Style fame, and now this: a toilet theme park!
The Restroom Cultural Park opened near Suwon in South Korea earlier this year.
It’s thanks to Sim Jae-Duck that we have such a fantastic theme park to add to our Bucket List for 2013. Also known as “Mr. Toilet”, Sim Jae-Duck was born in his grandmother’s bathroom, it is said, and when he grew up he lived in a toilet-shaped house (it’s now a museum at the centre of the park).
Sim Jae-Duck was the founder of the World Toilet Association and a former mayor of Suwon.
He campaigned to improve public sanitation in the 1980s, built 16 public restrooms combing traditional and modernistic features and launched the “Making Beautiful Public Restrooms” in the late 1990s (in time for the 2002 World Cup games). Today, Suwon holds a monthly Cleanest Public Restroom Contest to showcase the cleanest, best-kept toilets of local businesses.
Back at the Restroom Cultural Park, visitors can view loos that the Romans would have used, European-style bedpans and ancient Korean flushing toilets and wander through a sculpture garden composed of squatting figures.
Like this museum? Visit the Modern Toilet restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan, one of our Top 10 weirdest restaurants.
