The Museum of Torture Instruments

The Museum of Torture Instruments is situated in the Petropavlovsk Fortress in St. Petersburg. Here you may see many tools for torturing and also the description of some most violent methods…

Knee crusher was used for crushing and breaking joints – knee and elbow ones. Many steel teeth coming into the body inflicted terrific stab wounds therefore the victim usually died.

Praying cross was used for long fixation of a criminal in an extremely uncomfortable position – the pose of obedience and humility, that helped executioners to bend the victim to their will.

Water torture. For this torture the victim was bound to a post and water fell down on his head drop by drop. In some time each drop extended into the head that motivated him to make a confession.

With help of a hand saw they made even more agonizing execution than burning. Executioners cut the prisoner up who was hanged up upside down and bound by legs to two posts.

Heretic’s fork looks like a two-sided steel fork with four sharp thorns sticking into the body under the chin and in the breast.

Barrel of shame made a psychological trauma. The physical side of the torture consisted in holding the barrel on one’s shoulders, that certainly was tiring but not that painful as compared with other kinds of torturing.

Impaling was one of the most poignant tortures that came to Europe from the east. A peaked stake was brought into into one’s anus, then the body was put vertically, and it would go down slowly because of its own weight…

Garrota – a prisoner was sat down on a chair with his hands bound. An iron collar fixed the head’s position firmly. During the execution executors screws an iron bolt which was slowly coming into the head.

Spanish boot was a display of engineering thought as authorities of the Middle Ages took care about new inventions in the sphere of torturing – then it would have been more effective to achieve confession. Metal Spanish boot furnished with a system of screws squeezed the victim’s shin up to the bone breaking.

A horse – a victim had to sit down on this torturing tool with weights bound to wrists and ankles. The sharp edge of the cross-bar stuck into the perineum causing awful pain.

Criminals who were subjected to hard labour exile were stamped with special stamps. It was done in order to make them different from other people.

This instrument called “a peach” was used for anal and oral tortures. It was brought into the mouth or anus and while screwing of the bolt the peach’s segments were disclosing.

Women chastity belt

Men chastity belt

 

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