You can learn a lot from shit. That, at least, is the hope of Italy's newly opened Museo della Merda, or in English, the Museum of Shit.
Located in the northern Italian town of Castelbosco, the Museum of Shit resides on a dairy farm, which is still in use. In addition to squirting out milk, the cattle pump out an extraordinary amount of excrement: over 220,000 pounds every day.
With such a bounty of feces at his disposal, farm owner Ginantonio Locatelli decided to put it to good use. Along with his partners, he opened the museum to educate the public about the history of crap.
As such, the Museum of Shit, which is located on the ground floor of a medieval castle, will host a series of installations dedicated to "the ability to transmute natural substances" in the hopes of re-establishing a "healthier relationship" between man and manure.
Right now, the Museo della Merda is displaying an exhibit that explores the use of using excrement for home heating purposes. There is also another exhibit that examines the way methane burning off of jarred poop can allow bioluminescent bacteria to thrive.
Even the website of the Museum of Shit is pretty awesome, with a particularly shitty newsfeed featuring headlines like: "Shit Will Quench The World's Thirst" and "Design Academy Eindhoven: Eat Shit." (Wish I'd written that last one.)
If you'd like to visit the Museum of Shit, visits can be arranged by weekend appointment only from May through August.
[via Dezeen]