Tourists trickle down into the bowels of Belgrade’s monumental fortress, attracted by banners promising a “MEDIEVAL TORTURE MUSEUM.” A $5 entrance fee secures access to three dusty, gloomy rooms, tucked away in the battlements alongside a range of other money-spinning ventures. The sounds of axes chopping and muffled screams are piped through the catacombs, creating a slightly cheesy, slightly unsettling atmosphere. Dusty cases present a confused mix of artifacts of dubious historical origin, glorying in lurid names. The “pear of anguish” is an expanding corkscrew supposedly inserted into a liar’s…
