Museum of Broken Relationships comes to Brussels

Painful break-up? Stuff lying around that reminds you of your ex? Donate it to the Museum of Broken Relationships, a temporary exhibition set to open in the visitor centre of the European Parliament on June 16. Brussels residents have until May 18 to contribute to the collection.

The idea for the museum comes from Croatian exes, Olinka Vištica and Dražen Grubišić, who first asked friends to donate items as a joke. They wanted to help people recover from a broken heart. The museum, which in 2010 was given a permanent home in Zagreb, was a formal recognition of their pain relief and grief.

Since then, hundreds of ex-partners have donated the physical remains of their love gone wrong, and the stories that go with them: a pair of pink handcuffs, a wedding dress, a battered garden gnome. The initiative was a success and received more than 200,000 international visitors in four years.

The Museum of Broken Relationships now tours around the world. Part of the Zagreb collection will soon be on display in Brussels alongside new pieces from local residents.