Musée d'Anatomie Delmas-Orfila-Rouvière
The Musée d'Anatomie Delmas-Orfila-Rouvière was a museum of anatomy formerly located on the eighth floor of the Faculty of Medicine, Paris V René Descartes University, 45, rue des Saints-Pères, 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was the largest anatomy museum in France. It was closed around 2005, with all its exhibits going into storage.
In 2011 the collections were donated to the University of Montpellier and are on display in the Medical School.[1]
History
The museum dated from 1794 when
wax anatomical models bequeathed by Jean-Baptiste Sue to the École des Beaux-Arts, these earlier collections were dispersed during the French Revolution
.
The cabinet's anatomical collection was reorganized and vigorously expanded by
Hunterian Museum and was inspired by its collections of comparative anatomy. In 1844 he established a museum, which in 1847 was formally inaugurated and named the Musée Orfila in his honor. By 1881 it contained nearly 4500 items, as documented in the catalog published by its curator, Charles Nicolas Houel. Unfortunately, during the early 20th century, the museum fell into great disrepair. According to the museum's web site, precious wax models by Laumonier were consumed for lighting, and only a few hundred of Houel's cataloged items still remain. In 1947, however, Prof. André Delmas began an effort to restore and greatly enlarge the Musée Orfila, conjoining it with the Musée Rouvière, the lymphatic collection of Prof. Henri Rouvière
(1876-1952). Since 1953 the museum occupied the vast exhibition halls and galleries of the eighth floor of the Faculty of Medicine.
The museum contained about 5,800 human and animal anatomical items. It contained a wide range of anatomical specimens, including a small
. It also included the Spitzner collection, a famous set of anatomical wax models dating from the 19th Century.See also
References
- ^ "Salle des anciens musées Delmas-Orfila-Rouvière" (in French). University of Montpellier. Archived from the original on 14 July 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
- Musée d'Anatomie Delmas-Orfila-Rouvière
- Paris.org entry (French)
- Catalogue et Index des Sites Médicaux Francophones entry (French)
- André Delmas, "Le Musée Orfila et le Musée Rouvière", in André Pecker, La Médecine à Paris du XIIIè au XXè siècle, Paris, Editions Hervas, Fondation SINGER-POLIGNAC, 1984, pp 289–294.
- Charles Nicolas Houel, Catalogue du musée Orfila, Paris, Paul Dupont-Masson, 1881. 524 pages.
- P. Vallery-Radot, "Le musée Orfila", Histoire de la Médecine, Numéro spécial, 1958, pp 69–78.
