Controversial cadaver display opens in Berlin

After months of dispute, the "Menschen Museum" will finally open on Wednesday February 18 in Berlin. It is the first permanent exhibition of bodies preserved by Gunther von Hagens plastination's technique.

Located directly under the Berlin TV Tower, the exhibition space of 1,200 square meters (almost 13,000 square feet) will show about 20 full bodies in lifelike poses and more than 200 plastinated body parts - various organs, bones and tissues. The exhibition is called "Facets of Life" and is the first permanent exhibition of the controversial plastination work done by the anatomist Gunther von Hagens. He became famous through his traveling exhibition "Body Worlds," which has been presented worldwide for the last 20 years.

The exhibition aims to stimulate reflections on the different aspects of the human condition, explained the museum's curator Angelina Whalley, who is also Hagens' wife. To avoid being branded as purely provocative, the exhibition no longer includes a couple having sex, found in earlier temporary versions of the show. New plastinates will be revealed for the first time instead. The exhibits are accompanied by brief scientific explanations.

The exhibition is highly controversial, attracting objections from the Protestant Church and the Board of the Anatomical Society. Wolfgang Kummer, spokesperson for the German association of anatomical research institutes, criticized the sensationalism of the display of corpses. He added that the exhibition goes against the ethic and didactic principles of their association.
The museum opens in spite of current legal proceedings. Berlin's local administration filed a lawsuit against the museum in order to close it down. The case is still pending.

ey/eg (dpa, epd)