Sexmuseum Amsterdam

Located on scruffy Damstraat, Amsterdam’s so-called "Venustempel" opened in 1985 and is the oldest sex museum in the world. Thanks to its position on the edge of the Red Light District, it attracts more than half a million giggling visitors per year, who wander in a bemused manner around the muddled layouts, bumping into each other while traipsing up and down stairs in two medieval houses that have been grafted together. There’s not much about the history of sex here, just lots of erotic ephemera such as a Delft blue tile showing a man with an erection playing cards, Chinese and Japanese figurines in compromising positions, and waxwork figures in various states of undress and decay. These include a rather random diorama of Marilyn Monroe in the famous scene from "The Seven Year Itch," in which her skirt is blown up by a subway vent. The most interesting display is of early erotic photography, around which red-faced teenagers stand snickering.