At the National Museum in Prague, Amanda and I could not get over just how randomly set up the exhibits are - shoes next to fossils next to stuffed fish. It was made all the more bizarre due to the fact that neither Amanda or I speak any Czech and nearly none of the exhibits had English labels.
My favorite exhibit, besides the stuffed animals which reminded me of the American Museum of Natural History and my favorite boy, was an oddly placed exhibit that held nothing but used bandages. Interestingly labeled in English as "Plasters for Jara Cimrmana's sores from his mountain journeys," the display was disturbing - as it was basically just used bandaids in a glass case. Amanda and I thought, "oh, those crazy Czechs," and I vowed to look up Mr. Cimrmana later. . .
And so I did at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jara_Cimrman. It turns out Jara Cimrmana is a fictional character, dreamt up by the Czechs as a hero who has achieved everything - written the best books, produced the greatest philosophies, developed the best inventions, and travelled the world in every direction. The Czechs spend their time playing a game of making Jara more real and more fantastic. Basically, the display at the National Museum is another round of this game, played on millions of tourists every year.
In other words, the bandaids were not of some amazing mountain climber, but some random schmuch seeking to trick tourists. And it worked. :)
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