As a part of our trip around Northern Europe, we spent a few days in Amsterdam for New Year. We visited many museums and exhibitions, and one that was particularly unique was the Body Worlds exhibition.
Body Worlds
The Body Worlds exhibition is set over seven floors, and is a permanent exhibition. There are five other locations in the world where there is a permanent exhibition; Berlin, Heidelberg, San Jose and Guben. There is also a travelling exhibition that has visited Australia.
The real human bodies have been skinned and the body fat dissolved in acetone, before the rest of the body was impregnated with chemicals to preserve the remaining parts of the body. This means that you can see the muscles, tendons and bones. We were able to explore the floors that each had a different theme, such as coordination, locomotion, circulation and reproduction.
We covered the area looking at the body parts and bodies, and reading the descriptions that were in English and Dutch. In some respects it was very educational and interesting, and in other instances, once you realised that these were real human bodies, it was a little creepy and un-nerving.
There is controversy that some bodies may have not been donated. Of the bodies we saw, most were Asian in appearance – from the shorter stature, and their eyes made it apparent. The controversy is that some bodies have been discovered with injuries and even bullet wounds to the skull, and that some donations may have been from homeless, executed prisoners, or mentally ill people.
