Unusual and interesting toilets from all around the world.

Toilets of the World

Welcome to the Toilets of the World

Are you 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 Turkey 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

Toilets of world leaders, artists, and authors: The Ottoman Sultan Woodrow Wilson Leon Trotsky Winston Churchill Adolf Hitler Dwight Eisenhower Robert Kennedy William Shakespeare Edgar Allan Poe Vincent Van Gogh Jim Morrison Lady Gaga
Answers for your important questions: 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?

Did Thomas Crapper Invent the Flush Toilet?
Is His Name the Origin of the Word "Crap"?

No, and No

Wikimedia Commons image of Thomas Crapper, who did not invent the flush toilet.

Thomas Crapper was an English plumber and industrialist, but he was not the inventor of the flush toilet. The modern flush toilet design dates back to 1596, 240 years before Thomas Crapper's birth in 1836. English patents for flush toilets were issued in the 1770s. Public toilets were installed in England in 1854, when Crapper was just 18. And as for the word "crap", it has been used in English since 1440, based on Middle English crappe which came from earlier Dutch and Old French words, which in turn came from medieval Latin.

Toilets have been around at least since 3,500 BC when the Neolithic settlers of Skara Brae on the Orkney Islands off the northern coast of Scotland built toilet chambers at the corners of their stone homes.

Those late Stone Age toilets had a drainage system to remove waste, although it is unclear whether they had a true water flushing system or not. A flushing system connected to a common sewage disposal system existed by 2,600 BC in the cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa in the Indus Valley Civilization. The Minoan civilization on Crete and Thera had flushing toilets by 1,800 BC.

Read more about Thomas Crapper »

Today's Featured Toilet
Latvian passenger train toilet.
Notice the footpads on this toilet on board a Latvian passenger train. This passenger car was built in Russia during the days of the Soviet Union, when rail cars provided squatters for passengers from Central Asian Soviet republics.

Lower the seat and it's a raised throne. With the seat up, as seen here, it's an elevated squatter.

The tricky part is balancing on those foot pads as the train sways and bounces along poorly maintained rail lines! See the dedicated train toilet page for many examples from railroads around the world.
Check back tomorrow for another featured toilet!
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Who is the Toilet Guru?
Bob Cromwell seated on the ancient public toilets in Ephesus.

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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Let's visit the toilets!