Toilets of the World
Welcome to the Toilets of the World
Are you wondering why people hoard toilet paper? Wondering how to use a bidet, or even what a bidet is? Curious about what the toilets are like in other countries? Toilets from ancient history? Do you wonder who invented the flush toilet? (It wasn't Thomas Crapper!) You've come to the right place!
Toilets around the world:Belgium Bulgaria China France Greek Islands Japan Morocco Trinidad Russia and many others
Toilets from throughout history:
The Stone Age Ancient Greece Ancient Rome Bible era King Arthur's England Invention of the flush toilet To the toilets of the future
41 days until World Toilet Day
Answers for your important questions: Why do people hoard toilet paper? Did Thomas Crapper invent the flush toilet? Should I squat or sit? Should I wipe or wash? Where do I put used paper, in the bowl or in the bin? When did public toilets become segregated by sex? What is a bidet? What is a toilet snorkel? Should I incinerate my sewage in the basement?Squat Toilets and Raised Commodes
This is the biggest toilet question in the minds of most international travelers. For some potential travelers, especially Americans, it may be the biggest question of all and a large part of what keeps them from traveling out of their fear of the different and the unfamiliar:
When I visit that country, what will the toilets be like?
Will they be squat toilets, pans in the floor?
Or will they be raised commodes, like porcelain chairs?
For absolutely everything I have on the topic of toilets, arranged on a country by country basis, see my collection of international toilets. But allow me to attempt to summarize the distributions of squatters and commodes, of pans and thrones:
A water tank, out of sight behind us but shown in detail on the detailed page, would have provided a stream of water which would have flowed through the channel allowing the monks to clean themselves. Waste would flow downhill, away from us in this picture, to drain through the wall supporting this elevated wing of the abbey and fertilizing the orchard.
You can also compare this French monastic reredorter to the medieval English reredorter built and used during the same centuries at the Abbey of Glastonbury in southwestern England.
Who is the Toilet Guru? Is he obsessed? What is it like to be the Toilet Guru? Why does this site exist?
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