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All Hungary Budapest Semmelweis Medical Museum

Semmelweis Medical Museum

A museum in the childhood house of a medical pioneer.

Budapest, Hungary

Added By
Dylan Thuras
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The Semmelweis Medical Museum in Budapest.   Laika ac/CC BY-SA 2.0
The Semmelweis Medical Museum in Budapest.   Laika ac/CC BY-SA 2.0
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Medical jars at the Semmelweis Museum.   Laika ac/CC BY-SA 2.0
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About

The Semmelweis Medical Museum (Semmelweis Orvostörténeti Múzeum) in Budapest contains an anatomical Venus by Clemente Susini, an early X-ray machine, and the obligatory shrunken head, all housed in the very building in which Dr. Semmelwies was born. But the most interesting element of the museum is the story of Semmelweis himself.

Semmelweis worked during the mid-1800s in the maternity ward of a clinic. Women in maternity wards all over the world were experiencing a mysterious disease called"childbed sickness," today known as puerperal fever. As many as 30% of mothers died from this disease every month. Semmelweis was tormented over the deaths of so many women, but couldn't figure out the cause.

One day, a colleague died shortly after performing an autopsy, and in a flash of insight, Semmelweis realized that his coworker had had a cut on his finger when he preformed the dissection. It became obvious to Semmelweis that doctors moving immediately from cadavers to pregnant women was not the best idea.

Semmelweis implemented a strict hand-washing policy in his clinic, requiring doctors to scrub with chloride of lime, an antiseptic. He also instituted an instrument-washing policy. The death-rate fell noticeably.

Semmelweis reported his findings to the great Medical Association of Vienna, but this was several years before Pasteur's experiments confirmed germ theory; even Semmelweis himself was not sure why his discovery worked. So to most of the medical community, hand-washing simply didn't make sense. Semmelweis's discovery was soundly rejected, and in a cruel twist of irony, Semmelweis died — of the very disease he spent his life trying to prevent in others — before seeing his discoveries accepted by the medical community.

Clemente Susini's wax models, painstaking to produce and incredibly fragile, can be seen in only a few other locations throughout the world, including La Specola Museum in Florence, the Josephinum in Vienna, and the Wax Anatomy Museum ot University of Cagliari.

---

Atlas Obscura visited the Semmelweis Museum on Obscura Day - March 20, 2010

Related Tags

Anatomical Venuses Medical Museums Wax Anatomy Obscura Day Locations

Community Contributors

Added By

Dylan

Edited By

hrnick, justinemeeus, Molly McBride Jacobson, haryjanos...

  • hrnick
  • justinemeeus
  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • haryjanos
  • mbison
  • Allison
  • miluta
  • rbenn250

Published

February 15, 2010

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Semmelweis Medical Museum
13 Apród u.
Castle Hill
Budapest, 1013
Hungary
47.493239, 19.042917
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Related Places

  • Rome, Italy

    Museo Storico Nazionale Dell' Arte Sanitaria

    One of the most important yet well-hidden museums dedicated to the history of medicine.

  • La Specola.

    Florence, Italy

    La Specola Anatomical Collection

    The largest and most famous wax anatomical collection anywhere in the world.

  • Pavia, Italy

    The Museums of the University of Pavia

    A collection of collections, including an anatomy museum, the “Cabinet of Physics of Alessandro Volta, a museum of natural history, mineral collection, and much much more...

  • Anatomical exhibits at the Museo di Palazzo Poggi

    Bologna, Italy

    Museo di Palazzo Poggi Anatomy & Obstetrics Collection

    An extraordinary collection of 18th century anatomical waxworks.

  • Anatomical Venus by Clemente Susini

    Cagliari, Italy

    Wax Anatomy Museum at University of Cagliari

    A collection of wax anatomy by the great sculptor Clemente Susini.

  • Vienna, Austria

    Josephinum Medical Museum

    One of the best collections of wax anatomical models in the world.

  • Athens, Greece

    Wax Museum of Andreas Syggros

    A grotesque collection of wax limbs depicting the symptoms of venereal disease.

  • The entranceway.

    Brooklyn, New York

    House of Wax

    Tucked in a nondescript downtown Brooklyn mall is a bar containing a remarkable turn of the century anatomical wax collection last seen in 1920s Berlin.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
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