[ti:Visitors Laugh Away Troubles at the HaHaHouse Museum]
[al:Arts and Culture]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2025-02-15]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]A new museum of laughter in Croatia is offering to help people deal with the negativity of modern life.
[00:10.53]Visitors to the HaHaHouse in the Croatian capital Zagreb walk into a little cloud of white smoke when they step inside. 
[00:24.13]Its purpose is to blow away their worries before they climb into a "giant washing machine".
[00:32.22]Then they move down a twisting slide into a space filled with little white balls where their trip to a happier place starts.
[00:43.82]Forty-three-year-old Andrea Golubic is the museum's creator.
[00:50.53]Golubic said she got the idea during the COVID-19 pandemic.
[00:57.39]At that time, many people were feeling down, depressed and alone: "I realized that I had a mission -- to heal people with laughter."
[01:10.70]The idea "came straight from the heart", Golubic told the French News Agency (AFP).
[01:18.88]She had ideas for many of the museum elements in one day: "that's how the HaHaHouse began."
[01:29.05]Golubic said a picture of her when she was seven-year-old inspired her.
[01:36.53]"I was constantly joking as a kid," she added.
[01:41.50]Visitors press a button to be "disinfected from negativity" as soon as they step inside the museum, which has eight interactive zones, or areas.
[01:55.13]One has rubber chickens singing cheerfully.
[01:59.49]They sing songs like ABBA's "Dancing Queen." 
[02:03.67]There is a karaoke room with distorted voices and a "Sumo Arena" for wrestling in puffed up clothes.
[02:13.94]There is also some serious history of humor from ancient to modern times told through theatre, film or the internet.
[02:25.94]The museum also explains different kinds of humor. 
[02:30.26]These include word play, slapstick, dark humor and satire.
[02:37.65]Golubic said the HaHaHouse is popular with everyone from small children to older people. 
[02:46.57]Adults say it is a good excuse to act like a child.
[02:52.54]"All those who still feel a bit of childish joy and embrace their inner child, will recharge themselves," she said.
[03:03.58]Retiree Bruno Dadic told AFP he was pleased by his visit "as there is never enough humor in life.
[03:14.03]"Laughter is a medicine for the soul," he said.
[03:18.27]Aleksandar Suka celebrated his fifth birthday with a visit.
[03:24.95]Visiting with his mother, the little boy said he liked lying on the "Bed of Nails" since they tickled him.
[03:34.66]Singer Zorica Bucic, from the coastal town of Split, said the museum was just right for our times.
[03:44.83]"Entering here is like entering childhood, being relieved of all problems," she said. 
[03:52.31]Bucic added that if you could come to museum often, you would not need to visit a psychologist.
[04:01.85]Psychologist Petar Kraljevic told AFP that laughter is a kind of weapon which gives people strength to face their problems. 
[04:12.90]He said that if doctors could advise their patients to have "three hours of laughter" a day, people would feel much better.
[04:24.03]I'm John Russell.