Zagreb (AFP)

Serving your head on a platter without spilling a drop of blood or taking a picture of yourself walking on the ceiling is possible in a Zagreb museum that is emulated from Paris to New York via Kuala Lumpur.

"It's something different, related to the brain but also something funny", summarizes Roko Zivkovic, 39, thinking head of the concept with his friend Tomislav Pamukovic.

Inspired by Brain Games, a popular American series exploring cognitive science, they opened the Museum of Illusions in 2015 in order to enrich the cultural offer of the Croatian capital in the face of increasing tourist numbers.

Visitors can stimulate their little gray cells while having fun in front of dozens of trompe-l'oeil puzzles and other optical illusions.

"This museum is very fun," Yousfi Mezyan, a 22-year-old French student who came for a walk with a friend, told AFP.

"Everything is rather interesting" and "it makes you think a little too, it passes the time, it's cool".

Among the most popular attractions, the "head on a plateau" where everyone can admire beheaded or the "Souls room", where visitors grow and shrink like Alice in Wonderland.

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"Visitors should investigate, have fun and learn," says Roko Zivkovic, a marketing expert.

To the surprise of the creators, the success was immediate.

The year following the opening, in 2016, the museum was Zagreb's busiest with over 100,000 visitors.

They therefore embarked on franchises: Vienna, Belgrade, Berlin, New York, Paris, Dubai, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, the concept has spread over four continents.

"We never stopped, today we have 30 museums around the world," says Roko Zivkovic, announcing upcoming openings in Lyon, Milan, Seville, Budapest, Tel Aviv and Philadelphia.

Designers don't want a "classic museum" where people are required to contemplate in silence.

They want them to have fun and encourage visitors to take selfies to share online, a key aspect of their business strategy.

"The attractions must entertain and educate but they must also be photogenic so that people can put them on social networks", concludes Roko Zivkovic.

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In the meantime, the schoolchildren are enjoying it.

"I really like the museum and even more the attraction on earth," says Dora Lackovic at the age of nine.

"This is what I liked the most, I was almost falling and I had to climb."

© 2021 AFP