Here's something you might be interested in.
The Museum of Man (1350 El Prado) currently has a special exhibit called Instruments of Torture, which explores various artifacts of torture, and the intent behind the instruments. The instruments range from the well-known Iron Maiden and guillotine to the more obscure but no less horrific Jock's Mare (a pyramidal seat on which the punished suffered while weights were tied to their ankles) or the knee crusher.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/nov/22/35854/
The exhibit is fascinating, horrifying, and sickening simultaneously, but doesn't quite provide the rich history behind these instruments, sometimes offering only a single line or two to inform about the items. Many of the torture instruments were employed to pressure heretics into recanting, and humiliate women (for speaking in public or over men, for being unwed mothers).
When my brother and I viewed it on Tuesday afternoon, the fifteen or so other visitors were silent, weighed down by the gravity of the history of torture. Upon leaving, my brother said, "It was good, but I feel sick." So did I.
Admission is $20 and includes the main and permanent exhibits. Photography is not allowed.
The Museum of Man (1350 El Prado) currently has a special exhibit called Instruments of Torture, which explores various artifacts of torture, and the intent behind the instruments. The instruments range from the well-known Iron Maiden and guillotine to the more obscure but no less horrific Jock's Mare (a pyramidal seat on which the punished suffered while weights were tied to their ankles) or the knee crusher.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/nov/22/35854/
The exhibit is fascinating, horrifying, and sickening simultaneously, but doesn't quite provide the rich history behind these instruments, sometimes offering only a single line or two to inform about the items. Many of the torture instruments were employed to pressure heretics into recanting, and humiliate women (for speaking in public or over men, for being unwed mothers).
When my brother and I viewed it on Tuesday afternoon, the fifteen or so other visitors were silent, weighed down by the gravity of the history of torture. Upon leaving, my brother said, "It was good, but I feel sick." So did I.
Admission is $20 and includes the main and permanent exhibits. Photography is not allowed.