Anatomical Museum

The Anatomical Museum of Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) is used for medical and biomedical instruction. Since the museum moved to Building 3 in early 2007, over 800 medical specimens and models have found accommodation in a modern museum at the heart of LUMC’s teaching centre.
In addition to the permanent exhibit, there is a display case on the first floor which houses a variety of temporary exhibits.

The permanent collection

1. The five display cases on the ground floor have been set up around the theme “Healthy and sick”. Each display unit represents a specific phase of human life: it contains a panel with slides of healthy tissue and racks filled with medical sections of physical abnormalities or defects. The racks or ladders are organised after Underwood’s disease classification (General Systematic Pathology). Each such island has two touch screens containing information on the medical sections and sometimes close-ups of the abnormalities.
2. Based on the theme “The Leiden tradition”, historical medical sections are displayed in the 300-year-old Albinus case. There are also paintings by famous anatomists and panels with information about how the collection came into being.
3. On the first floor of the museum, alongside the display case with changing exhibits, you will find a long wall display showing unique medical sections and models and a skeleton display.

Touch screens and information panels provide further information on the collection exhibited in the museum. No tours are given of the museum.

In storage

The new Anatomical Museum contains only part of the LUMC’s large collection of medical sections. There is a database with photographs and information on the most excellent and instructive specimens in the LUCM’s collection. The database can be consulted through the curator for purposes of medical and biomedical instruction and research. Requests to temporarily display one or more sections that are in storage for instruction purposes may be submitted to the Museum Commission. The same applies to requests to put together a temporary exhibit (in the first-floor display case), for example for a conference or for special instruction.

Target groups

The museum is intended for:

1. teaching staff and their students from the study programmes given in the LUMC;
2. teaching staff and their students from medical and paramedical study programmes given outside the LUMC;
3. secondary school teachers and pupils doing a specialised Nature & Health profile.

Reservations are required

• LUMC teaching staff and  Instructors from study programmes outside the LUMC: make reservations by sending an e-mail or letter to the LUMC’s Museum Commission (for the address, see contact details). Clearly state the name and personnel identification number of the instructor who is responsible, the size of the group to be instructed and the name of the study programme. Please state your wishes as clearly as possible, and provide the link to your study programme. We will be in touch with you.
• Students may not make reservations for the Anatomical Museum.

Practical information

Groups may visit the Anatomical Museum on working days between 9.00 am and 5.00 pm. Maximum group size is 25 persons. No charge is made for a visit. At the appointed time, you and your students or pupils should report to the hostess in the foyer of Building 3. She will give you access to the museum.
Please note that it is prohibited to eat or drink in the museum. It is not allowed to take photographs. There is an unattended cloakroom in the foyer of LUMC Building 3 and there are lockers for your coats and bags.

In conclusion

Only twice a year the public at large gets the chance to visit the Anatomical Museum. The museum is open for visits during the national Museum Weekend (April) and Leiden’s Science Day (October). We refer to the news section of this website for the latest updates.

Contact

LUMC Museum Commission
Directorate for Instruction and Study Programmes
V0-P, Postbus 9600, 2300 RC Leiden
E-mail: museumcommissie@lumc.nl