The Human Anatomy Department of the University of Liege has two main missions: teaching and research in the field of anatomy. Anatomy (from the Greek anatemno: ana, "going up", and, "to cut") describes the shape and structure of living organisms and their parts (organs, tissues).
Formerly located on the Rue de Pitteurs, the Human Anatomy Department was transferred to the University Hospital of Liege, on the Sart Tilman site in 2010. The former anatomy collections have been installed there.
The century-old pieces were made for educational purposes - a function that they still fulfil today, although they are now of undeniable historical interest. The elements immersed in alcohol sometimes show healthy subjects, sometimes malformations of the human body. Very fragile, many of these pieces have been digitised and are now accessible to students via the Internet.
In all, there are more than 500 authentic specimens relating to human anatomy: tissue preparations preserved in alcohol baths, skeletons, a dozen plaster skulls of decapitated persons, old teaching models (bones, teeth, brass and wood) and some seven works drawn with anatomical views.
Among these pieces, one will find a mould of the femur of a giant (acromegalus), a breath-taking dissection of the thoracic contents of a young child, isolated organs (kidney, heart, liver, etc.), a collection of skeletons, conjoined fetuses or a Cyclops. The showcases also contain anatomo-pathological exhibits illustrating the pathologies of certain organs: vascular malformations, infarcts, abscesses, tumours or parasitological infections.
Although the collection is not normally accessible to the public, some pieces are sometimes exhibited during major exhibitions such as "I'll be 20 in 2030" and "From the eye of the cyclops to the hair of the mammoth".
Les collections d'Anatomie humaine comptent plus de 500 spécimens authentiques ayant trait à l’anatomie humaine : préparations tissulaires conservées dans des bains d’alcool, des squelettes, une dizaine de crânes de décapités en plâtre, des modèles pédagogiques anciens (os, dents, laiton et bois) et une septantaine de planches dessinées de vue anatomiques.
