Museum of Illusions bends reality on the North Shore

What emigrated from Zagreb, Croatia, to the North Side and might make your head spin? This isn’t a glass of Slivovitz — Pittsburgh’s Museum of Illusions is set to open its doors on Thursday, Dec. 21.

Pittsburgh’s newest museum, located about a half block west of PNC Park, is a franchise “edutainment” concept that two Croatian entrepreneurs started in 2015, says Stacy Stec, director of marketing and communications for the museum’s franchisee, LOL Entertainment.

“Those two gentlemen were inspired by the cognitive sciences, including optical illusions, vision, perception and counterintuitive thinking,” Stec says. “They wanted to create a different kind of experience — something that makes you use your brain, but it’s fun. So they … developed this Museum of Illusions concept that just became wildly popular, and they started franchising it out to major cities across Asia and Europe.”

Although the museum provides eccentric photo backdrops, the Museum of Illusion’s goal is to teach its patrons why they see something their brains can’t understand.

“A lot of our concepts are rooted in STEM,” Stec says. “We really pride ourselves on that, because there’s a lot to learn about the brain and how we perceive reality when you’re experiencing optical illusions.”

While many of the Pittsburgh franchise’s exhibits will be familiar to patrons who have visited the museums in New York, Chicago, Atlanta or other locations around the U.S., Stec says Pittsburgh will have unique immersive rooms.

The Pittsburgh museum is also one of the biggest locations in the U.S., allowing space for one of the newest and most tech-forward exhibits.

“It’s called a walk-in kaleidoscope,” Stec says. “It’s literally like you’re walking into a kaleidoscope.”

The museum will also have zoetropes, which create the illusion of movement, and a vortex tunnel.

“You have to feel it to really experience it because a lot of our illusions are visual,” Stec says of the vortex tunnel. “This one is, of course, visual, but it throws off your equilibrium as well.”

All tickets are timed entry, which allows patrons to explore the museum at their own pace without crowd build-up. Tickets are available on the museum’s website.