Musée des moulages, Medical museum in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, France
The Musée des Moulages occupies a building inside the Hôpital Saint-Louis in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, reached through Porte 14. Its flat grey-beige facade has dressed stone quoins, a projecting cornice and tall multi-paned windows; a white sign reads "Musée des moulages". The museum holds 4,807 wax casts of skin diseases and other conditions.
The collection began in 1867 when Dr. Lailler commissioned sculptor Jules Baretta to reproduce skin lesions as three-dimensional models. The museum formally opened in 1889, the same year the first international dermatology congress was held on the premises.
The museum is open by appointment only and welcomes visitors aged 12 and over. It sits within the grounds of the Hôpital Saint-Louis, so it is worth asking for directions at the hospital entrance upon arrival.
Jules Baretta alone is thought to have made around 3,500 of the models over his career, each built by hand with papier-mâché and wax. This technique was used in the museum until 1958, making the whole collection a record of a craft that is no longer practiced.
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