London's Vagina Museum raises funds for new premises

The world's first vagina museum, which was forced to close earlier this year, has located a new premises.

But the London-based attraction must raise £85,000 by early June, in order to secure a six-year lease on the new property in the east of the city.

It has so far raised £43,000 - with more than £32,000 from the public and £11,500 behind the scenes.

The museum says it is in a "now-or-never" situation and fears permanent closure if the funds are not raised.

Florence Schechter, director of the Vagina Museum, said: "This is crunch time.

"We have every faith that we will meet our fundraising goal within this timeframe.

"Things have been touch-and-go for an emerging museum in a pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis and we have so far risen to every challenge we have faced."

It began in 2017 by hosting pop-up exhibitions before opening in Camden Market in 2019 with the exhibition Muff Busters: Vagina Myths and How to Fight Them.

Last year, when it moved to Bethnal Green, it hosted the exhibitions Periods: A Brief History; and From A to V, which looked at gynaecological anatomy and activism.

The museum was asked to suddenly vacate the premises in Bethnal Green earlier this year as it was under a property guardianship scheme.

Since it opened in 2019, the museum has seen more than 175,000 visitors.

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