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Hope for broken hearts

Melville welcomes a new museum dedicated to love and loss.

They say you can’t avoid death and taxes, but in reality, there’s a third inevitability in life: A broken heart. Whether it’s the first person you ever loved, the friend who knew all your childhood secrets but drifted apart, or the parent with whom you struggled to form a connection, most of us are carrying a hidden hurt. The Museum of Broken Hearts is all about telling the story of that grief, so that you can start to heal.

While it may sound pretty bleak, museum founders Georgia Adams and Chris Aron have ensured that their unique space is anything but. Yes, it’s quite possible you’ll shed a tear for the would-be mom whose multiple attempts to fall pregnant proved fruitless, or for the sufferer of an auto-immune disease whose friendships weren’t strong enough to weather the storms of their condition. But the idea, says Georgia, is to acknowledge the journey travelled by the people who have elected to share these stories, and perhaps find a grain of strength in the fact that each of us has our own story to tell.

It was Georgia, who brought the museum to South Africa, thanks to a trip to Croatia in May 2024 where she had an eight-hour layover in Zagreb. She Googled things to do in the city – and found The Museum of Broken Relationships as one of the top listings. It took a bus, a tram, an Uber and a lot of interesting conversations to reach the little house that’s home to the museum. “What struck me most is that as humans, we like to mark milestones in our lives with rituals. We do this for births, deaths, marriage. But we don’t have any ritual to commemorate a break-up or a heart break; to pay tribute to the time, the lessons learnt, even the gift of heartache.” She envisaged establishing a place similar to Croatia’s famous museum, but tweaked it to encompass more than just broken relationships, to create a place where people could acknowledge their hurts and, in so doing, gain a sense of closure.

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The idea percolated until she met Chris at a reunion hosted by a teacher they had both studied under –a therapist, in fact, who had helped Chris move past his own heartbreak, which involved multiple betrayals. The experience had encouraged him to shift his career from engineering to counselling, and as part of his healing process, he had bought the Melville house which is now home to the museum. It was a significant step, he says, because it was the first home he had chosen for himself, in a suburb he loved. His previous house had been the choice of his ex-wife, and their divorce had left him in pieces not only emotionally, but facing some serious financial challenges, too. The Melville house is where he started to feel whole again, and he loved the idea that other people might find the same peace by visiting it in its new incarnation as a museum.

Chris is also planning to use the space to host therapy sessions, while one of the rooms will become a broadcast studio for podcasts exploring themes like forgiveness and vulnerability. Over time, more and more of the rooms will be given over to displays with specific themes; for instance, Georgia envisages a room of forgiveness, where stories have a distinctly uplifting message told by people who have successfully moved past their grief and sadness, a room of coincidence, which celebrates how life brings seemingly random people and places together, a children’s room, featuring artworks by children, giving them a medium to express their emotions, and a room of gratitude, where visitors can give thanks to those who have lifted them out of a dark time in their lives.

Chris hopes that the museum will help visitors move forward once they have learned about what other people have gone through.

“When you’ve had a setback, you might know, intellectually, what the next step should be. But it’s when you see how others have suffered and found a way to move forward that you might find the courage to actually take that step. It’s all about understanding that you are not alone.”

Five tips to heal a broken heart

  1. Honour the heartbreak (through a poem, a journal entry, a letter or any other creative outlet)
  2. Share your story. A burden shared is a  burden halved
  3. Cultivate empathy for yourself and others.
  4. Feel deeply. Allow yourself to feel the full range of your feelings.
  5. Mend through kindness. Heal by uplifting others.

Keen to contribute to the Museum of Broken Hearts?

Select an item that’s symbolic of your experience, wrap it in bubble wrap, and Chris or Georgia will collect it (you can also post it anonymously on site). You’ll also be required to send your story to hello@brokenhearted.co.za.

The museum is located at 71 2bd Ave Melville. It is open every Sunday from 2pm to 5pm. Entrance is 120 and cake and teas/coffee is an optional R60.

Details: For more info, visit The Museum of Broken Hearts on Facebook

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