About
The wax medical deformities in this museum are rotten from a century of exposure.
Opened in 1824, the University of Florence's Pathological Museum boasts a selection of marvelous wax figures crafted by some of the 19th century's leading anatomical sculptors. This comprehensive collection of medical wax moulages was essential to educating medical students, as actual specimens, corpses, and other aids used for visualizing different pathologies were often unavailable. The museum is particularly renowned for Luigi Calamai's 1851 model of a man stricken with skin lesions—though he is known as "the leper," the figure actually displays cases of Norwegian scabies. The poignant moulage conveys agony in vivid form.
