Body Worlds amazes and educates at Convention Center

By Don Fowler
Posted 7/20/16

By DON FOWLER This summer visitors will have an unusual opportunity to see something they have never seen before that will both amaze and educate them. Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds exhibit comes to the Rhode Island Convention Center through Labor Day,

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Body Worlds amazes and educates at Convention Center

Posted

This summer visitors will have an unusual opportunity to see something they have never seen before that will both amaze and educate them.

Gunther von Hagens’ Body Worlds exhibit comes to the Rhode Island Convention Center through Labor Day, providing an alternative to the beach, and another reason to visit downtown Providence during the summer.

“The exhibit celebrates the human body’s potential and vulnerability,” according to von Hagen.

The easily accessible exhibit features authentic human bodies preserved through the groundbreaking anatomical science of Plastination, invented by Dr. von Hagens.

The numerous specimens come primarily from a body donation program with a roster of over 14,000 donors.

The exhibit has been seen by 42 million visitors around the world, 16 million in the United States. It is located in the long corridor on the first floor lobby of the Convention Center, a space that director Larry Lapore told me has been underutilized since the center was built.

“It is a perfect location for exhibits of this nature,” he said, “and we are planning future exhibits to follow. Not only can people attending conferences in the building attend, but it is easily accessible for Rhode Islanders who can come to the city, see the exhibit, shop, and visit one of our many fine restaurants.”

The exhibits are all labeled, and a personal listening device will provide additional information.

There are soccer players, dancers and other reproductions of the full human body showing muscles, organs, veins, skin and bones.

Individual body parts are displayed in glass cases, some showing diseases that have altered the body. If you smoke, the depiction of diseased lungs should make you think twice about stopping.

I should point out that while the exhibit shows the inside workings of bodies, it is far from macabre. Every display is done tastefully and respectfully.

There is a neo-natal area that shows the development of the human fetus, and at the end a giant size model of the human body with all of its elements together. It is a completely unique way of looking at the human body.

Admission to the exhibit is $19, plus $5 for the listening device. Group rates are also available. Plan on giving yourself a minimum of an hour to take everything in, longer if you wish.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here