Many people look at toilets as a dirty place but it is in fact quite the opposite, toilets keep our societies clean by managing our disposal of human waste. At the Sulabh International Toilet Museum, there is an embrace of our humanities need for hygienic practice instead of pretending our history doesn’t involve us using the bathroom constantly.

A very unique museum indeed when compared, it’s completely focused on the history of toilets across the globe. Featuring exhibits from over 50 countries and also sections that cover ancient civilizations, with one wall that is entirely dedicated to toilet systems from ancient societies including Egypt, Babylon, Rome, Greece, Crete, and Jerusalem.

Around 1992 this idea to show the toilet in this light was the creation of Dr. Bindeswar Pathak and is just one development from his initial founding of the Sulabh International which is an organization that promotes ways of “social reform through education”.

This combination of ancient history and late age developments in this museum shows the development of toilets throughout the history of time. You will find yourself surprised at all the different toilets designs there have been throughout history, just to mention a few.

  • There is a section that shows toilets with really fancy designs and paintings that are from the 18th & 19th century.
  • There is pretty much a little wooden box that is meant to be placed on top of a big book. This one is from France and from our understanding it’s meant to humiliate other countries by placing authors names on the cover of the big book.
  • A really interesting one for viewing is a tabletop toilet where it’s both a table and a toilet, simply just lift the top of the table and there is a toilet underneath to relieve yourself after having lunch.
  • They have details about the most expensive toilet in the world which was built by NASA, Approx 19 million dollars.
  • There are also a variety of novelty and funny toilet items because really what’s a toilet museum without some poop jokes.

Here is a YouTube video we found that shows some of the exhibits there:

If you would like to visit it is located in Delhi, India and we are pretty sure you will find something that will expand your understanding of toilets and applications of it throughout history.