The ex factor and lost love
I waited almost 40 years to understand the meaning of love,” he writes. “She knew that as a child that I had always wanted a car with pedals. But I never had one until I was over 40... the car represents our love.”
“We kept finding playing cards on the street… Our relationship was not perfect,” she writes. “However, I never thought that he would leave me at a time when I really needed a friend… And when I find a playing card on the street, I remember our game and recall all the nice memories linked with it.”
gone wrong
Standing inside the Kulmer Palace in the Upper Town in Zagreb, the Croatian capital, my eyes well up with tears as I read heart-wrenching tales of lost love. Some stories are sad, some bittersweet, while others are burning with anger or overwhelmed with grief.
I am inside the Museum of Broken Relationships, and every story here tells a tale of betrayal, of a doomed relationship, of unrequited love. Each tale is woven around an object that stands as a metaphor for the heartbreak—a toy car, a playing card, a glove, a pair of red shoes, a wedding gown, a garage door key.... A toaster becomes an object of vindication. A stiletto reminds a sex worker of her childhood love who inadvertently becomes her client.
The concept of the museum was a brainchild of the couple Drazen Grubzic and Olinka Vistica, who had just broken up. They were left with their prized possession—a toy bunny that had been more than just a memory of their relationship. It had even travelled with them to countries and had been a substitute for the missing partner if either of them had travelled solo. As artists, they decided to create a small project around it, which in turn led to the concept of the museum in 2006. The museum, which is also a travelling one, finally found home in Zagreb as several people came forward with their stories and donated objects that meant a lot to them once.
In many ways, the museum became a way to find personal closure to heartbreak.
Walking around, I am going through a gamut of emotions as I read these touching stories. The first room is about long distance relationships that did not last. The next set of stories talk about whims and desires. The emotions get deeper as we enter the room where stories are filled with rage and anger. There is an axe that symbolises broken fragments of relationships; an iron, the only reminder of a broken marriage. Returned wedding gifts, albums, champagne glasses and even a wedding gown—remnants of marriages that did not last.
But there is more to it than just romantic love gone wrong. Broken friendships or relationships between parent and child are also expressed here. Memories pour out of every corner. The letters are cathartic in a way to the writers, giving them a closure to their broken hearts. Finally, as I leave, I realise that the museum is not just about stories of strangers, but it is very much about us and our own emotions and our own sense of loss—be it a forgotten friendship or a relationship that did not work out. As I head out, all I want is a reassuring warm hug as we hold on to love and the people we love.
Shattered Dreams
In the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb’s Kulmer Palace are stories that are sad, some bittersweet, while others are burning with anger or overwhelmed with grief. Here, each tale is woven around an object that stands as a metaphor for the heartbreak.