Ever had a bad foot? Limps and broken legs were once celebrated at the Museum of Crutches in Azerbaijan (don’t ask me where this is…I’m an American). The museum is now closed, but knowing it once existed makes me happy. Located in the renowned health resort town of Naphthalan (or Naftalan), the main sanatorium was once visited by more than 100,000 people from all over the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s. The oil that comes from this part of the world is supposed to cure all ills. I wonder if those ills include a nagging wife and unemployment? Anyway, after all those sick people were “cured” by the petroleum oil spas, they left behind their old wooden crutches. There were so many crutches that the sanatorium set up a museum. But during the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the crutches were given away to combatants and the museum shut down forever. R.I.P. Crutch Museum. You’ll be missed. Because I can’t find any internet pictures of the museum, I have to settle for a man bathing in oil. I hope all his troubles have been scrapped away.
Museum of Crutches in Azerbaijan
