Body Worlds (German title: Korperwelten), the travelling exhibition of preserved human bodies and body parts, which was first presented in Tokyo in 1995 has continued to be a huge hit ever since, having been hosted by more than 50 museums and venues in North America, Europe and Asia, and attracting around 38 million visitors worldwide.
The human bodies and body parts are preserved using a technique called plastination to reveal inner anatomical structures.
The exhibition developer promoter is German anatomist Gunther von Hagens, who invented the plastination technique in the late 1970s at the University of Heidelberg.
The exceptional success of the exhibits is to a great extent due to its educational value. They are structured in such a way that visitors experience it much as they would a three-dimensional textbook: anatomy as the foundation of the body is laid out in an educational and elucidating fashion. Visitors learn about the body’s functions; they also realize how highly sophisticated and beautiful, and yet how fragile the body is.
To emphasize the importance of a healthy life-style, Body Worlds showcases individual specimens to compare healthy and diseased organs, i.e, a healthy lung with that of a smoker, according to website of Body Worlds.
In Body Worlds’ headquarters tourists can also participate in a dissection. Currently, the Institute for Plastination has a donor roster of more than 13,000 individuals which includes over 12,000 Europeans and 1,000 North Americans.
There are interesting comments left by visiting celebrities. US actress Demi Moore: “… A gift of exploration that everyone except the faint hearted should see …” US actor Adrian Brody: “Well, now I’ve seen everything. Finally I’ll have a good night sleep!” UK actor Dustin Hoffman: “Thank you Gunther for this extraordinary exhibition & hope it’s many many years before either of us wind up there.”
