Explore the history of anatomical study from the illustrations of Leonardo Da Vinci to the Burke and Hare murders in this major new exhibition. Charting 500 years of medical exploration, the exhibition examines the social and medical history surrounding the practice of dissection, Edinburgh’s role as an international centre for medical study, and the links between science and crime in the early 19th century.
See early examples of anatomical art, and discover the role anatomy played in the Enlightenment. In the 18th century, Edinburgh developed into the UK’s leading centre for medical teaching, and the demand for bodies to dissect vastly outstripped legitimate supply. The exhibition examines the circumstances that gave rise to the Burke and Hare murders in 1828, and highlights the changing practices and attitudes around body provision over the past century and a half, bringing the story right up to date.
PLEASE NOTE: This exhibition contains sensitive material.
Sponsored by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers.
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human body, Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, 1747.
Credit – Wellcome Collection.
