Mütter Museum, Medical museum in Center City, Philadelphia, United States
The Mütter Museum occupies several galleries inside the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and displays more than 20,000 medical specimens, anatomical objects, and antique instruments. The rooms are divided into sections where visitors view preserved human tissues, skull collections, and historical surgical tools.
Thomas Dent Mütter offered his collection of over 1,700 specimens and $30,000 to the College of Physicians in 1856; the College accepted in 1859, and a dedicated museum building opened at 13th and Locust Streets in 1862. The museum only became open to non-Fellows in the mid-1970s. A new building on 22nd Street followed in 1908, and a 1986 renovation added air conditioning and glass display cases.
The collection shows human specimens and pathological cases that 19th-century physicians assembled for teaching purposes. Visitors see preserved organs, skeletal anomalies, and wax anatomical models that illustrate medical conditions.
The museum opens daily from 10 AM to 5 PM and offers guided tours through the collection. Visitors with a sensitive disposition may want to prepare themselves for the graphic content, as many specimens show human tissues and medical anomalies.
Visitors can see the Soap Lady, whose body transformed into adipocere after death. The same building also holds glass slides containing cells from Albert Einstein's brain.
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