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Our Museum
History of the Museum
The Pathological Museum
Virchow's Specimens
The Specimens Today
Rudolf Virchow
Pathology
Ophthalmology
Ruine of Lecture Hall
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There has been a museum at the Charité for over 100 years. Its originator, the
renowned pathologist Rudolf Virchow, opened it in 1899 as "The Pathological Museum",
filling it with 23,066 specimens by the end of 1901. Almost all diseases then known
in western medicine were displayed over a space of 2,000 m2 in large glass showcases.
Series of the same disease forms demonstrated variations of particular illnesses. The
development of a disease became clear. Illnesses such as tuberculosis could be shown
as they affected specific organs. An impressive three dimensional textbook of pathology
had been born.
Rudolf Virchow had fought many years for his museum. When he took the chair in pathology
at the Charité in 1856 the collection included some 1,500 specimens that had been
collected by his predecessors. By taking over other collections of specimens, but
primarily by the increased activity at his own institute in dissection and the
preparation of specimens, he created a collection that was without comparison.
Virchow's motto was "No day without a specimen." Very quickly it became clear that
soon the growing collection would no longer fit in the building that had been erected
especially for him. Structural weaknesses added to the problem. The year 1896 marked
the beginning of a large expansion phase at the Charité which included a new complex
for pathology. The first building was the five-story museum.
Virchow wanted to use his museum in three ways. On the top three floors he planned to
have a teaching and research collection. Students and colleagues would be able to view
the specimens for their own studies. On the two lower floors, an exhibition would be
open to the public. In the lecture hall Virchow presented specimens to his students
from all levels of the museum in order to let his listeners, as he said, learn by
"seeing medically."
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