This crazy museum of humour was opened in 1990 on a farm in Wiesbaden. The ingenious people behind the museum have been coming up with madcap inventions for the market every year for almost 30 years, all of which are on display here in the museum.

Frontal attack on the laughter muscles
The Harlekinäum (Laughter Museum) in Wiesbaden may well be the craziest museum in the world and is an absolutely must for all jokers. The name itself hints at what awaits visitors to this madcap world, and they should be prepared for a whole array of jokes and tricks. Instead of donning felt slippers as in other museums, visitors here slide around in "fun slippers" - fluffy footwear shaped like tiger paws and crows feet. One room is completely upside down – or it is the visitor who's standing on his head? A journey into the world of jokes and pranks sooner or later gives every visitor something to smile about.

In the Harlekinäum, laughter is the name of the game, as all the major joke designers are represented here. An off-beat collection of humorous ideas is displayed in eight rooms. There are around 2,000 objects designed to make people laugh, including dancing shelves, a giant walk-in cheese, a bathroom containing a jungle, as well as the mug with the handle on the inside or the shark-fin swimming cap - just the thing to put on when you want to have the beach to yourself.
» www.harlekinaeum-wiesbaden.de

A selection of other light-hearted museums in Germany.