"Body Worlds" - Anatomical Exhibit

We went downtown this morning to the Museum of Natural Science to see Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds -- "The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies." We drove down there with J and S, and met R and C in front of the museum. This was an early-morning trip--- we all agreed to meet there at 8:45 so we would be among the first in line to see this very popular exhibit.

Great idea to be there so early, although none of us thought so when our alarms went off at dawn this morning. The exhibit is filled with real bodies which had been "donated to science," as that saying goes. G. von Hagens developed a method to cover the bodies with a heavy plastic coating, to preserve them in different stages of post-mortem dissections and poses. They call these bodies "plastinates."

The Houston Chronicle ran a very long article about the exhibit, so all of us knew what to expect, more or less. What couldn't be seen in the newspaper pictures was the still very life-like expressions on the faces of the plastinated bodies. You could count the eyelashes on most of the bodies, and if you looked long enough at those faces, you would swear that you could sense their personalities.

The plastinates were in all sorts of poses--- exercising, playing cards, riding a horse (which was also plastinated!), and there was one man there holding his own skin. His entire skin had been taken off and he stood there holding it in his hand as if offering it for sale.

The entire exhibit was very humbling, to say the least. We are all so very fragile, when you look at the mass of bones, muscles, arteries, organs, veins and such, that are artfully arranged from the tip of your head to the tip of your little toe. And we are all so very much the same.... there was no hint as to color or race or religion..... so really-- does any of that matter in life if it makes no difference in death?

Speaking of organs, they also had those in glass showcases.... healthy lungs as compared to the black (charcoal-black!) lungs of a smoker; a healthy liver as compared to an alcoholic's liver. And the brain--- a "normal" brain next to the brain of a person who suffered from Alzheimer's.

Really makes you want to respect the body you're in, and take better care of it, that's for sure. After the exhibit, we saw an IMAX film on the body, and then an exhibit of artifacts taken from an ancient burial chamber.... the Queen of Ur took everyone in her kingdom along with her when she decided she wanted to die. The cooking vessels, jewelry, musical instruments.... plus hundreds of people... all were found in the chamber.


It was an educational morning..... we didn't leave the museum till after 12:30 and then we went further downtown to a little cafe for lunch. Even after looking at all of those plastinated bodies, then watching the IMAX film about the inner workings of the body's organs, all we wanted to do after looking at the Queen's burial chamber was eat! (But I think we all chewed our food very well, after seeing the film about bits and pieces of food plopping into the stomach after swallowing.)

Of course, I can't leave the museum without a book, so I bought a copy of Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds. Outstanding book, over 300 pages of descriptions and photographs about the exhibit. Interesting reading, if you can find it at a bookstore. (Or check out the website at www.bodyworlds.com).