Moulagenmuseum

Moulagenmuseum - An excellent collection of medical wax models (technical term: ‘moulages’) on public display in a dedicated small museum at Zürich ’s medical university and hospital. It’s of interest to anybody into “icky medical tourism ” but especially of course to people with a special interest in medicine. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations More background info: The making of wax models (moulages) of body parts showing the effects of certain diseases has a long history, going back to the 18th century (see Palazzo Poggi or Josephinum ). In the case of Zürich, the technique was introduced to its medical university in 1918, when Lotte Volger began supplying such models, which are of a very high quality, realistic and true to colour. The exact technique she used was not written down but kept a secret and passed on to Volger’s successors orally only. It wasn’t until 1998 that it was finally revealed. Initially the models were used only for educational and scientific presentation purposes, in lectures or for students’ self-study. As colour photography and later digital technologies advanced, the wax models were slowly deemed old-fashioned and banished to storage boxes in the university’s basement. Later, their historical value was reassessed, and some 600 of the university’s collection of ca. 2000 wax models was put on display in the current museum and thus made accessible to the general public. But students still use them as well (also outside the public opening times). The technique of making moulages was revived too, and today new ones are again being made in Zürich.