*There is a no flash photography policy in the exhibit, so pardon the quality.

Gunther von Hagens is a brilliant and incredible human. His personal history is just as fascinating as his professional portfolio and contributions to the medical world.

Hagens was born in Poland only days before his family set out for Germany in attempt to flee from post-Holocaust disastrous conditions and fast approaching Soviet Communism.

The Hagens family was held in East Berlin then moved to Greiz, where he grew up. During these years, he studied medicine, lectured on Pathology and Anatomy, fought fascism, and was briefly imprisoned for protesting and attempting to cross borders.

In 1975 he received his medical doctorate and within two years, he invented and began practicing his method of preserving live tissue known as Plastination which has caused controversy almost constantly, but there is no other greater or more effective method of preserving a body.

Plastination requires several steps involving formalin embalming, acetone baths to remove fatty tissue, injection of plastic materials, posing and molding subjects, and the curing process which can take up to one year.

His work is completed on subjects who will their bodies to him post mortem. Donors must complete applications and follow proper legal channels to finalize the arrangement, and the intent is to be used for research versus art for art’s sake.

Each pose highlights certain muscle groups to show the body’s Physiology and function. His art doubles as a brilliant bulk of educational resources for so many different fields of medicine and law.

View the official BodyWorlds website for ongoing exhibition locations, including this one in Berlin’s Menschen Museum below the Fernsehturm in Alexanderplatz.

*************
© Fernwehtun, 2015- Current. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Fernwehtun and Fernwehtun.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.