The Monsieur Pompier’s Museum of Curiosities pages on all major social media platforms are run by a man named Paul, or Monsieur Pompier himself. Bored Panda already spoke with Paul twice before and he was kind enough to tell us about the inspiration behind the museum and about his band, Monsieur Pompier’s Travelling Freakshow.

Paul said in 2022 that he drew inspiration from Dr. Chelsea Nichols’ The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things and The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art And National History in London. These museums are not the only ones of their kind. Whether physical or virtual, many similar places exist in many parts of the world, like the museum of curiosities in San Marino. Some of them are even mobile!

Monsieur Pompier’s museum is heading toward soon becoming a real-life museum in Dublin, Ireland. A few months back, in June, Paul told Bored Panda that he’s planning to make it a reality sometime in 2024. “Little by little, I see the rooms filling up with all manner of oddities, making me look like something of a hoarder (which I think is a good sign that I’m getting closer to having enough stuff to launch the museum!” he said back then.

The museum is still accepting donations from anyone that wants to help make the physical Monsieur Pompier’s Museum of Curiosities a reality. “You can donate whatever you like – be that money or your own curiosities which you’d like to see featured in the museum!” Paul told us in June.

Paul also travels all over Europe and Ireland with his musical group Monsieur Pompier’s Travelling Freakshow. It’s truly a one-of-a-kind act that delivers a unique experience. Paul himself describes the group as “a strange mix of dark cabaret, performance art and eccentric psychedelic songs”. All of the songs are written by Paul, Monsieur Pompier himself.

The performances also feature a group of characters whose names correspond to the song titles on the band’s album. There’s Banana Boy, Guts The Cat, Willy The Wet Pocket, Sally Shortcake and many more. “On stage, I attempt to sing my ridiculous songs whilst the 'freaks' interact with me or the audience as they interpret and act out the story of their individual songs,” Paul told us back in 2022.

Museums of Curiosities are the successors of the pre-modern version of museums – cabinets of curiosities, or Wunderkammer. As Antonis Chaliakopoulos writes for The Collector, what in 17th century Europe was a way to entertain guests at home after dinner, throughout the years has evolved into the modern museum.

A cabinet of curiosities most often included rare antiquities and exotic natural specimens. What makes them different from what we now know as museums was the selection process. Museums today do it on a scientific basis, and back then these private collections were based on an individual’s preferred taste. The most important quality of a curiosity was considered its rarity, and the end goal was to wow your guests.

What was featured inside such a cabinet of curiosities? That depended on the location of the collector: one in London would have different treasures in his cabinet than another in Amsterdam. The biggest two categories that are now identified are man-made artifacts (artificialia) and natural specimens (naturalia). 

The names are more or less self-explanatory, but examples of naturalia would include animals, plants, and minerals. Carcasses of beasts and other weird-looking creatures were considered the most exotic items. However, collectors used to merge different animals together to create the most interesting mythical beasts. That’s why the line between naturalia and artificialia sometimes would get blurred and the classification depended on the collector’s individual decision.

Examples of artificialia included cultural artifacts, antiquities and artworks. The most popular, however, were scientific instruments. The reason is that sciences, such as medicine and astronomy, weren’t exactly popular back then. Instruments that were used to measure space and time were seen as almost magical and as proof of man’s domination over nature.

The first public museum in England was donated by a collector of curiosities. In 1677, Elias Ashmole donated the treasures he acquired from John Tradescant to the University of Oxford. In 1678, the first public museum in England – the Ashmolean museum – was opened and featured ancient coins, books, engravings, geological and zoological specimens.