The Final Member

Well, this is a bladdernose seal.

And here is the smallest of the whales,

the common porpoise, with both testicles.

And this is a penis from a harbor seal.

A beautiful specimen, with the testicles.

These are absolutely fantastic. Absolutely fabulous.

This started as a joke with a bull's penis in 1.974.

I was 33 years old,

and it was in the town Reykjavik in the south

where I was the headmaster of a secondary school.

One of m y teachers gave it to me at a party just as a joke.

That was the first.

This museum presents phalluses or penises

from the animal kingdom

with all the artistic pieces around as well.

Here it is, the bull's penis that my teacher gave me.

The one that gave me the idea to start collecting.

So this was what started everything.

This is the biggest specimen I've got so far.

It's from a sperm whale.

But this is just about one-third of the length of the organ.

This is the part that leaks out when the animal dies.

This is a penis bone from a cave bear.

A species that got extinct 10-, 15000 years ago.

So this is very rare and very precious to me.

I've been collecting for almost 40 years now. I'm almost 70.

And I've got foxes, minks, house mouse, field mouse,

rats, brown rats, black rats, pigs, horses, rams,

bulls, reindeer, polar bear, seals, walruses,

harbor seal, gray seal, sperm whale, humpback,

minke whale, killer whale, dolphins.

I've got them all.

I've got specimens from all mammalian species except one:

A proper human.

Without the proper human, the collection is not complete.

My dad has been collecting penises as long as I remember.

I think for me it was quite, you know, normal.

Just part of, you know, the family life

to bring home a new specimen for the museum.

Or for the collection. It wasn't a museum then.

It was a private collection at home.

Just for display for guests and so on.

And I opened it with an opening ceremony, in style

on the 23rd of August, '97. That's my birthday as well.

We have anniversaries on the same day, me and the museum.

We started when I was 17 and she was 18.

We have been together 52 years now.

I would never have been able to do the museum

without her support.

Quite a few people thought of course that I was a pervert

or something like that

to start with, start collecting penises.

Most people... Some people may have thought it

absolutely nonsensical.

Or idiotic.

But when people realized that there is nothing

pornographic there, they just...

Well, they may start thinking, why is he doing it?

What is his concept of presenting this to us?

The museum develops most naturally,

but echoes many of the approaches

to the world that you see within his teaching.

Especially the question of something

that mustn't be talked about.

And anything that Siggi comes across

that mustn't be talked about

as far as he's concerned, must be talked about straightaway.

Let's discuss this.

Did you know that? You knew that. Great.

This is very, very important for me,

to inform people or educate people.

I think this serves or helps.

Decreasing taboos about this human body

but especially about this organ I am presenting here.

This is the smallest item in the museum.

A penis bone from a hamster.

It's less than two millimeters.

As a professional teacher for 37 years, I like telling people.

I like informing people.

The testicles weighed 972 kilos.

Look at this one. This is an American possum.

And it has two. Did you know?

We look at the historical record

and see all kinds of variations

in how much we can talk openly about penises.

It's odd that we in the 21st century

tend to fall on a very conservative point of view.

Why is it for us in the 21st century

that the penis is so taboo?

Salt and pepper.

I have been carving for 30 years or something.

I started carving things, like this gavel

just in the same line as other things in the museum you see.

So this is the official gavel

of the director of the institute.

The Icelandic Institute of Phallology.

It's a good gavel.

This took me weeks.

So this is pretty heavy, but it's a complete mini bar

or travel bar with two small bottles underneath here.

If you have guests, you, you can bring

their schnapps on this trowel.

It's just like something you want to create.

You don't know what the end result will be.

This is my Christmas cutlery, you know?

A fork, knife, and a spoon.

The museum is getting greater attention now than ever before.

And I think that is more or less the word is spreading worldwide.

And it's been a lot of interest shown

by media from all over the world

that's been flocking up to Husavik.

Hello, I'm Carol Off.

Good evening, I'm Jeff Douglas.

And this is As It Happens.

The world's only penis museum has not yet managed

to secure even one of a specimen

of which there are billions.

Mr. Hjartarson, why is it so difficult, do you think

to get a human penis for your museum?

I have been collecting for 33 years now,

and I'm still waiting for a human one.

These bodies are all over, you know?

And some of them are just cut up to pieces.

Why haven't I been able to get a human specimen from there?

Without specific legal permission given by

an individual you cannot acquire any part of his body.

Everybody knowing everybody in Iceland,

this is a sensitive matter, you know?

Because we are so few

and a specimen would hardly get to me

without the nametag on it.

Nobody would notice

if somebody was buried with one kidney.

Well, he just gave it away, or we gave it away.

But if he was buried without a penis, this would be a...

Well, even he or his family could be a laughing stock,

you know?

So this is a part of the taboo or the fringe

of talking about these things.

People want to build monuments, leave something behind.

I think this is also a part of it.

It's sort of a chance to do something

and leave something remarkable behind.

My health has deteriorated this year.

This is worrying me a little.

Because you start thinking that you haven't got

so many years left.

The human might be the end of a collection of 34 years.

If I don't get it in the next few years,

I don't know what happens.

Pall Arason is an authority... He's a famous guy in Iceland.

So that would be an extremely valuable

acquisition to get him.

And here is the bottle.

Mr. Arason's future resting place.

If he fits there.

So, Mr. Areson, his letter of donation was the first in 1996.

Then in 2001 came Tom Mitchell, the American.

Hi, I'm Tom Mitchell. I'm an American.

And I have decided to donate my penis

to the only penis museum in the world.

The Iceland Phallological Museum.

I felt ever since I was a kid that when the time came

I didn't want my penis to go to waste when I die.

And when I came across the Iceland Phallological Museum

it seemed like the ideal solution to a lifelong dream.

I initially did the letter of donation to Siggi.

He had claimed that there was an old Icelandic gentleman

who had made a commitment to donate his penis upon his death.

I asked if he would be interested in a donation

from outside of Iceland.

And he responded enthusiastically at the time.

He calls his penis Elmo, and he is extremely well endowed.

This is the American, Tom Mitchell.

And with him comes a mold, or a cast.

That's a very, very good specimen of almost 7 inches,

and a great girth.

My first wife came up with the name Elmo.

I'm not really sure where that came from.

But that was a long time before any Muppets characters

were out there.

I don't know really anything about this guy,

except he has this great specimen, Elmo.

I started realizing that to ask somebody who was a close friend

to make sure that my sex organs are cut off my cold, dead corpse

is really just kind of a gross thing to ask anybody

to do especially anybody you care about.

And if you want anything done right,

you probably need to see to it yourself.

So more recently I decided that actually it

would be a good idea to do it before I die.

I can see where most any rational guy would say:

"Boy, that's an extreme thing to do."

I mean, nobody would really want to do that during their life.

I've always had a dream of not only Elmo being placed

on display in a public place but as a result,

possibly some fame and fortune.

Not for myself, but for Elmo.

I've always thought it would be really cool

for my penis to be world's first true penis celebrity.