The world’s unique museums: from espionage to noodles


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Bored of looking at medieval pottery when you visit museums? Well, you don't always have to endure traditional exhibitions while wandering through a city's cultural offerings.

In the UAE, there's the recently opened Museum of the Future turning everything we know about museums on its head.

Whereas most institutions give us a glimpse of the past, Dubai’s latest landmark showcases advanced technologies that will shape society for decades to come, including virtual and augmented reality, big data analysis, artificial intelligence and human-machine interaction.

But it’s not the only museum in the world to turn heads.

From Cancun's Underwater Museum to one in Japan dedicated to cup noodles, we check out six other unique museums from around the world.

Avicii Experience

Visitors pass graffiti during the inauguration of the Avicii Experience Museum in Stockholm on February 24, 2022. AFP
Visitors pass graffiti during the inauguration of the Avicii Experience Museum in Stockholm on February 24, 2022. AFP

February was not only the opening of the Museum of the Future, it also gave us a first look at Avicii Experience, a new interactive museum in Stockholm that pays tribute to the late DJ.

The 300-square-metre museum is produced by Pophouse Entertainment and allows visitors to get to know Avicii, the artist, and Tim Bergling, the person, who died in 2018 in Oman.

The audience can follow Bergling's path from reserved music enthusiast in inner-city Stockholm to internationally celebrated superstar, with a tour that leads from his “childhood bedroom” to a “club” where fans can dance to unreleased music.

Museum of Broken Relationships

The Museum of Broken Relationships is in the old town of Zagreb, Croatia. EPA-EFE
The Museum of Broken Relationships is in the old town of Zagreb, Croatia. EPA-EFE

Whether you’re wallowing in heartbreak or simply pining for the one who got away, the Museum of Broken Relationships is the perfect place to torture yourself with what might have been.

Initially conceived by Zagreb couple Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic as a joke about their doomed romance, the museum became a reality after the pair parted ways and decided to display old tokens of their former affection.

Originally, the museum began as a travelling collection of donated trinkets before becoming a permanent fixture with an ever-expanding collection in Zagreb, Croatia.

As the name suggests, the museum is dedicated to failed love and exhibits personal items from former sweethearts, often with a short description detailing the significance of the item and delving into what went wrong.

Museum of Cup Noodles, Osaka

Inside the CupNoodles Museum in Osaka, Japan. Photo: CupNoodles Museum Osaka Ikeda
Inside the CupNoodles Museum in Osaka, Japan. Photo: CupNoodles Museum Osaka Ikeda

Whether you’re a chicken-and-mushroom lover or an extra-hot fiend, we’re all guilty of guzzling a cup noodle from time to time and where better to pay tribute to the prized pot than Japan?

Osaka is the birthplace of instant noodles, dreamt up by revolutionary Momofuku Ando, who embarked on a year of tireless research in his quest to produce the perfect instantaneous snack.

The result was life-changing, for both Ando and anyone else who has found themselves ravenously poking around an empty kitchen cupboard only to lay eyes on a slab of glorious beige frills.

Since his discovery, instant noodles – and later cup noodles – were popularised worldwide and today, visitors to the museum, also in Osaka, can marvel at an Instant Noodles Tunnel, comprising 800 product packages.

Hungry museum-goers can create personalised cup noodles, combining a wealth of flavours to whip up the perfect bespoke noodle blend.

International Spy Museum, Washington, DC

Lobby of the International Spy Museum with Aston Martin on display. Photo: Dominique Munoz for the International Spy Museum
Lobby of the International Spy Museum with Aston Martin on display. Photo: Dominique Munoz for the International Spy Museum

Fancy yourself as a bit of a Bond? For those who find themselves listening at doors or twitching curtains, the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, is the next step in your secret agent training.

Wannabe sleuths can skulk their way around the largest public collection of espionage artefacts, shedding light on one of the world’s most secretive professions.

Microscopic cameras, counterfeit money, secret weapons and cipher machines reveal the role of human intelligence throughout the ages in an immersive tour that takes visitors through the dizzying technological advances in spyware.

Visitors can also adopt a disguise and take part in interactive spy adventures or simply absorb the history of the world’s most elusive spies through historic video interviews and rare photographs.

Cancun Underwater Museum/Museo Subacuatico de Arte

This sculpture on the sea bed forms part of the Underwater Sculpture Museum of Cancun (Museo Escultorico Subacuatico de Cancun) at the West Coast Marine Park of Isla Mujeres, Punta Cancun and Punta Nizuc. EPA
This sculpture on the sea bed forms part of the Underwater Sculpture Museum of Cancun (Museo Escultorico Subacuatico de Cancun) at the West Coast Marine Park of Isla Mujeres, Punta Cancun and Punta Nizuc. EPA

Every modern museum with a half-decent PR team can bleat on about "immersive exhibitions", but to visit the Cancun Underwater Museum you’ll have to immerse yourself 10 metres deep in the Caribbean Sea.

Museo Subacuatico de Arte features 500 life-size structures fixed to the seafloor in the azure waters surrounding Cancun.

As well as being pleasing to the eye, the oceanic art also acts as an artificial reef, designed to promote the growth of coral and provide an important ecosystem for underwater life.

The result is an eerily beautiful representation of human interaction with the environment whose purpose will far outlive its USP.

If taking the plunge isn’t your thing, you can also explore the museum by glass-bottom boat or while snorkelling.

Museum of Bad Art (MOBA), Massachusetts

Not every museum is a shimmering beacon of high culture. In fact, some demand a certain calibre of bad from their artefacts.

The Museum of Bad Art is just that – a withering collection of more than 600 artworks that would not make it to your grandmother’s fridge, let alone the Guggenheim.

Formerly located in an old basement in Dedham, Massachusetts, the museum is now on the hunt for a new location that can do its ugly artworks justice and presumably accommodate a wealth of lockdown artistry.

The museum specialises in art so lacklustre that they leave all who encounter it transfixed, with endless displays of grossly proportioned portraits and childish finger painting rigorously affirming the museum's motto time and time again – art too bad to be ignored.

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

While you're here
Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

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It's Monty Python's Crashing Rocket Circus

To the theme tune of the famous zany British comedy TV show, SpaceX has shown exactly what can go wrong when you try to land a rocket.

The two minute video posted on YouTube is a compilation of crashes and explosion as the company, created by billionaire Elon Musk, refined the technique of reusable space flight.

SpaceX is able to land its rockets on land  once they have completed the first stage of their mission, and is able to resuse them multiple times - a first for space flight.

But as the video, How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster, demonstrates, it was a case if you fail, try and try again.

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

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Price: From Dh590,000

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

MATCH INFO

Crawley Town 3 (Tsaroulla 50', Nadesan 53', Tunnicliffe 70')

Leeds United 0 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
War and the virus
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
War 2

Director: Ayan Mukerji

Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana

Rating: 2/5

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League, last-16, second leg (first-leg scores in brackets):

PSG (2) v Manchester United (0)

Midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh117,059

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

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The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

 

While you're here
MATCH INFO

Uefa Champioons League semi-final, first leg:

Liverpool 5
Salah (35', 45 1'), Mane (56'), Firmino (61', 68')

Roma 2
Dzeko (81'), Perotti (85' pen)

Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Mina Cup winners

Under 12 – Minerva Academy

Under 14 – Unam Pumas

Under 16 – Fursan Hispania

Under 18 – Madenat

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

BMW M5 specs

Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor

Power: 727hp

Torque: 1,000Nm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh650,000

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Know your camel milk:
Flavour: Similar to goat’s milk, although less pungent. Vaguely sweet with a subtle, salty aftertaste.
Texture: Smooth and creamy, with a slightly thinner consistency than cow’s milk.
Use it: In your morning coffee, to add flavour to homemade ice cream and milk-heavy desserts, smoothies, spiced camel-milk hot chocolate.
Goes well with: chocolate and caramel, saffron, cardamom and cloves. Also works well with honey and dates.

Long read

Mageed Yahia, director of WFP in UAE: Coronavirus knows no borders, and neither should the response

Electric scooters: some rules to remember
  • Riders must be 14-years-old or over
  • Wear a protective helmet
  • Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
  • Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
  • Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
  • Do not drive outside designated lanes
The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid

When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

THE SPECS

      

 

Engine: 1.5-litre

 

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

 

Power: 110 horsepower 

 

Torque: 147Nm 

 

Price: From Dh59,700 

 

On sale: now  

 
The five pillars of Islam
How the bonus system works

The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.

The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.

There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).

All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.

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Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
How to tell if your child is being bullied at school

Sudden change in behaviour or displays higher levels of stress or anxiety

Shows signs of depression or isolation

Ability to sleep well diminishes

Academic performance begins to deteriorate

Changes in eating habits

Struggles to concentrate

Refuses to go to school

Behaviour changes and is aggressive towards siblings

Begins to use language they do not normally use

Updated: April 03, 2022, 8:29 AM`