The European Anatomical Collection Project

Anatomy is essential for medicine and multiple life sciences. It also plays an important role in the common paradigm of our civilization also through the spectacularization of the body from Leonardo until now. For a hundred years anatomy as a science, field of research and teaching has changed itself and our vision or imagination of man's body too.The proposal of a European Anatomical Collection Project is devoted to obtain, collect, analyze and publish wide range of information about anatomical collections in Europe. The collections have long histories: Renaissance ‘cabinet of curiosities’ boasted elaborate skeletal displays, in the 17th century new preservation techniques allowed the log-term storage of soft tissues in spirit, and in particular in the mid 18th century they began to emerge in their modern form in medical universities, medical schools, colleges but also for private initiatives.Historical, anatomical and medical museums were founded as the results of the collections of medical teachers and practitioners, who would then bequeath it to an institution or professional society.