Museum of Hygiene, Medical science museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia
The Museum of Hygiene is a medical museum housed in the Shuvalov Palace in central Saint Petersburg, displaying a large collection of anatomical models, including life-sized glass figures that show internal organs. It also holds medical preparations and teaching materials covering human anatomy and health sciences.
The museum was founded in 1919 as part of a Soviet public health drive, drawing on ideas first raised at the International Hygiene Congress held in 1877. Over the decades it grew from a basic teaching facility into a public museum that is still open today.
The museum sits inside the former Shuvalov Palace, an 18th-century building whose ornate rooms now hold anatomical models, teaching charts, and medical preparations. Walking through it feels like stepping into a school from another era, where the human body was explained in unusually direct and physical ways.
The museum is on Italyanskaya Street, a short walk from Gostiny Dvor metro station, which makes it easy to reach from the city center. Allow at least a couple of hours, as the displays are detailed and spread across several rooms.
Some of the glass anatomical figures on display were made by craftspeople from Czechoslovakia and are considered rare examples of this type of medical teaching object. Very few workshops in Europe produced them during the first half of the 20th century, making them hard to find elsewhere today.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
