Croatian museum curates the history of broken hearts

ZAGREB, Croatia -- What becomes of a garden gnome hurled in fury at a car during a stormy breakup?

Or a teddy bear that was once a Valentine's Day present? A wedding dress from a marriage gone awry? An ax that smashed through household furniture?

All are on display at the Museum of Broken Relationships in the Croatian capital, each with written testimonies telling tales of passion, romance and heartbreak.

On Valentine's Day, the museum sees its visits almost double.

"The objects that are here represent all the stages of a breakup ... and how people go through love," said Drazen Grubisic, a designer and artist who co-founded the museum in 2010 in the Croatian capital.

"We might say it's a love museum, just upside down," he said.

The mementos -- collected from all over the world -- are random and varied, ranging from fake rubber breasts to a cast from a broken leg. Each item comes with dates and locations of the relationships, and notes by their anonymous donors.

Some are funny. The note next to a garter belt says: "I never put them on. The relationship might have lasted longer if I had."

Some are bitter. The garden gnome flew over a car driven by a husband who turned "arrogant and heartless." It bounced on the asphalt, shattering its face.

"It was a long loop, drawing an arc of time ... that defined the end of love," the note from Slovenia said.

An ax from Berlin was used by a woman to smash every piece of furniture her girlfriend had left behind.

"The more the room filled with chopped furniture, [the more] I felt better."

The text by a blue frisbee reads: "Darling, should you ever get the ridiculous idea to walk into a cultural institution like a museum for the first time in your life, you'll remember me."

Parts of the collection have traveled as far as Manila, London and Singapore to be put on display. In each city, the heartbroken can donate their stuff to the Zagreb museum.

The museum itself is the brainchild of a breakup. When Grubisic and co-founder Olinka Vistica, a filmmaker, split up, they got stuck when it came to dividing their sentimental memorabilia. They didn't want to just get rid of it, so they created a museum.

"Maybe sometime in your life you will want to remember some of the good parts of the relationship," Grubisic said.

He said that donors of mementos find the giving therapeutic.

"They can move on," he said. "They also show there's something universal: We all have been brokenhearted at least once."