L.A. Is Getting Its Own Museum of Broken Relationships

Live in California? Instead of stuffing the photographs, gifts, and letters from your last relationship into a box and shoving it underneath your bed, consider donating them to Los Angeles’s new Museum of Broken Relationships.

It’s modeled after the similarly named flagship museum in Croatia, which was founded by two artists, Olinka Vištica and Dražen Grubišić. Three years after their 2003 breakup, the duo pooled together the sentimental items left over from their romance and solicited friends for their own mementos from past love affairs. Eventually, the collection grew into a touring exhibit of donated objects from around the world. In 2010, the assortment of memorabilia became a permanent attraction in Zagreb.

According to LAist and L.A. Weekly, the new Museum of Broken Relationships will open at 6751 Hollywood Boulevard in May. It will showcase 70 relics from the Zagreb museum, along with 30 items provided by lovelorn locals. While no two objects are alike, each one will be presented alongside its place of origin and an explanation of its significance. The keepsakes typically run from the mundane to bizarre; aside from the typical rings, presents, and clothing items, unusual contributions have included air sickness bags from a long distance relationship, an axe that one boyfriend used to chop up his girlfriend’s furniture after she fell in love with someone else, and a candy thong.

Want to tell the story of your own broken relationship? Fill out a form to donate mementos online. (Don’t worry, your real name won’t be shared with anyone but museum staff.) For more news, check out the museum's Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.