The Reclining Pregnant Woman, which features a woman and her 8-month unborn child still in the womb which can be viewed from her abdomen as well as her back

German anatomist Gunther von Hagens’ “Body Worlds” exhibit brings the bodies of the dead back to life in an amazing display of scientific progress at the Milwaukee Public Museum.

The exhibit features more than 20 full bodies and hundreds of individual organs providing an all inclusive tour of the human body. Alongside the bodies and organs is history of how autopsies were performed and evolved throughout the Renaissance. Philosophers thoughts and artists works pertaining to death line the walls providing attendees historical background, showing the long road that autopsies have come.

Each body has a unique feature about it that separates it from the others. From athletes to smokers, each body is different in posture and composition. Some bodies include just muscles and no skeleton, while others focus on the nervous system. Aside from the full bodies, individual organs can be viewed. Most show a healthy organ followed by one that has suffered from a disease or injury.

Of the bodies on display, one of the better pieces is “Rearing Horse with Rider,” showing a rider split up into three different shells of his former self holding his brain in his outstretched hand riding atop of a horse that has also been preserved.

The “Reclining Pregnant Woman,” which features a woman and her 8-month unborn child still in the womb which can be viewed from her abdomen as well as her back.

The “Figure Skating Pair with Woman Lifted” displays a male lifting a woman with one hand while she is lying on her back with her arms stretched out.

The process used to preserved the bodies is known as plastination, a process through which fat and water of the body is replaced with plastics, allowing the bodies to be viewed in the open without having to worry about decay or smell.

The exhibit itself may disturb some people, considering great detail can be seen within each specimen. On some figures the skull is sawed open with the brain just resting in it, on others nerve endings can be seen and traced along the body.

“Body Worlds” borders between modern marvel and a disturbing horror exhibit. It is hard to say whether or not von Hagens’ work is that of a brilliant visionary or a mad scientist. The exhibit would have broken many taboos had something of this nature been released 30 years ago.

However, with scientific knowledge coming as far as it has, modern society has become more receptive to extreme exhibits. Regardless of its graphic nature, “Body Worlds” provides the greatest experience to educate people about the human body. “Body Worlds” will continue to show at the Milwaukee Public Museum until June 1.

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