Address:
Göttingen University Medical Center • Anatomy Center
Kreuzbergring 36
37075 Göttingen
www.uni-goettingen.de/sammlung-humanembryologie
Open: Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m
Admission free
Guided tours: by appointment
Contact: PD Dr. Jörg Männer
Tel.: 0551 39-7032
E-Mail: jmaenne@gwdg.de
Address:
Göttingen University Medical Center • Anatomy Center
Kreuzbergring 36
37075 Göttingen
www.uni-goettingen.de/sammlung-humanembryologie
Open: Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m
Admission free
Guided tours: by appointment Research into early human form development relies on collections of chance finds, such as miscarriages. There are very few collections of human embryos worldwide. The most important is the Carnegie Collection in Washington D.C., which was founded at the beginning of the 20th century by Franklin P. Mall (1862–1917), a student of the Leipzig anatomist Wilhelm His (1831–1904). The director of the Göttingen Anatomical Institute Erich Blechschmidt (1904–1992) also saw himself in the tradition of His, who is considered the founder of human embryological research. From 1942 to 1969, Blechschmidt built up a collection of 430 histological section series of human embryos and fetuses, which is now world-famous.
Following the His tradition, the Blechschmidt collection should primarily serve to research and document the shape development of the human embryo - that is, the dynamic anatomy of human embryos. The aim was to show what could not be seen with the naked eye due, among other things, to the small size of the embryos. The embryos were fixed and dissected into histological section series, which enabled microscopic analysis of their internal structure. Highly enlarged (50 to 200 times) 3-D replicas of section series of stage-typical embryos were made. These document the anatomical conditions that become increasingly complex during embryogenesis on a scale that can be seen with the naked eye. The exhibition of enlarged replicas is unique in the world. It includes 61 exhibits (approx. 65–75 cm high), which are housed in their own, publicly accessible exhibition room. The arrangement of the models based on developmental age makes it possible to spatially experience the changing anatomy of human embryos with the naked eye.
The creation of the collection and, above all, the origin of the specimens were examined from a scientific and historical perspective in a separate research project from 2017 to 2019, the results of which can be viewed here.
Jörg Männer
