Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum

Berlin


This Charité Hospital–run museum chronicles 300 years of medical history in an anatomical theatre, a pathologist's dissection room, a laboratory and a historical patients' ward. The heart of the exhibit, though, is a sometimes grisly specimen hall whose 750 pathological-anatomical wet and dry preparations are essentially a 3D medical textbook on human disease and deformity.

Those under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. This is not surprising, for those monstrous tumours, a colon the size of an elephant’s trunk and two-headed fetuses – all pickled in jars filled with formaldehyde and neatly displayed in glass cases – are definitely not for the squeamish. The basis of the specimen collection was assembled by Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902), a famous doctor, researcher and professor. Also have a look at his lecture hall – a preserved ruin – which is used for special events.


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