Walking through this museum may cause you to look twice and think, “Did I just see what I thought I saw?”
The Museum of Illusions, which opens Thursday on Pittsburgh’s North Side, offers various optical illusion experiences.
“Optical illusions have been around forever,” said Stacy Stec, director of sales and marketing for the museum at a media preview on Tuesday. “This is like a playground for adults. There are so many cool illusions here.”
The museum offers visual and educational opportunities in more than 80 interactive exhibits, some that are three-dimensional. They challenge how you see something and your perception of a space. Guests can learn the science of how they work and the science behind the illusion.
The Pittsburgh location is one of the largest and has some of the newest illusions, including the kaleidoscope room, where mirrors and pieces of colored glass produce changing patterns and reflections.
The Museum of Illusions concept was initially created in 2015 and started in Zagreb, Croatia. It has more than 40 locations in more than 25 countries across four continents.
The museum team has been looking at Pittsburgh for a new market for a while, Stec said.
“Pittsburgh is a tech-forward city,” Stec said. “It has everything big cities have.”
This is a permanent museum that will be updated every three years with a re-fresh, Stec said. At the media preview, one of the most popular spots was the building illusion which creates the look of a person sitting or scaling the side of a building.
There is a reverse room where guests can strike a pose, get their picture taken and rotate the image so it looks like they are defying gravity.
The tilted room is a challenge to talk through. There is a color room where you look at three hues and turn around and see your shadows in three different colors.
There is a dodecahedron, a three-dimensional figure having 12 faces that are pentagonal and appear to not end when you look down into it.
Some of the illusions are not recommended for people with vertigo, epilepsy or other medical conditions.
The vortex tunnel will challenge your balance because it feels like the ground is moving under your feet as you walk through. In the clone room, guests see much more than double.
“We wanted to bring the museum to Pittsburgh because this is a city built on innovation,” said Stec. “This is the first market of this size we’ve opened in, and it’s because of Pittsburghers — they have curiosity, creativity, and passion that’s unmatched. We can’t wait to introduce these exhibits, some of which will be tailored specifically for the Pittsburgh experience.”
The museum will feature guest magicians such as Shane Patrick Crews, a mindset specialist, speaker and mentalist, who recently moved to Pittsburgh.
“As a child, imagination ruled everything,” said Crews, who was doing card tricks. “And then life happened and some of that imagining got crushed. In this space, there is still that sense of wonder from your childhood and like the word abracadabra, what you think can create your reality.”
“This museum is the most fun in the city you can have indoors,” said Joe King of Regent Square, who posed for a photo inside the reverse room. “Come for the fantasy and stay for the illusions.”