BODY WORLDS Berlin (Körperwelten)

At the foot of the TV Tower in Berlin-Mitte, the Human Museum shows what lies beneath the skin: real plastinated bodies, preserved with a method that has brought anatomy from the lecture hall into the public space. Berlin's most curious museum is also one of its most consistent.

BODY WORLDS Berlin: Anatomy to Touch, Not to Look Away From

Plastination, a preservation method developed by Dr. Gunther von Hagens, replaces all body fluids and fats with a polymer solution. The process takes several months and transforms real human bodies into permanent, odorless specimens. What emerges from this process is openly accessible in the space in Berlin.

The Human Museum, or MeMu for short, opened its doors in Berlin in 2015. It is located directly at Alexanderplatz in front of the Berlin TV Tower. Since then, visitors can marvel at over 200 plastinates. So, if you want to encounter something truly curious, this is the place to be.

What makes BODY WORLDS so special

The world’s first BODY WORLDS Museum showcases plastinates that provide visitors with easily understandable, detailed knowledge about individual organ functions and common diseases. It’s not about shock value. Rather, the exhibits encourage viewers to see their own bodies with different eyes.

Not only human plastinates are on display in the museum. Since December 2017, animal plastinates have also been exhibited. Visitors can get a glimpse into the internal life of a lion, an antelope, a yak, or a dog, discovering how close humans and animals are.

Additionally, the exhibition features the world’s only fascia exhibit, which displays the entire connective tissue network of the human body in impressive detail. This is fundamental anatomical research, right in the museum space.

In the BODY WORLDS exhibitions, Dr. Gunther von Hagens opens up the human body and makes fragile structures visible to non-medical laypersons. Together with curator Dr. Angelina Whalley, he shows the facets of life, between happiness and misfortune, pressure and balance, body obsession and humility.

Since 1995, over 58 million people in over 170 cities and 42 countries on six continents have seen the exhibition. Curious, controversial, and yet one of the most visited places of its kind worldwide, that is BODY WORLDS Berlin.