Medicinsk Museion

- darkometer rating: 5 -

A well-established medical museum in Denmark’s capital Copenhagen. Besides the usual specimens on display this museum also covers e.g. psychiatry, the metabolism and epidemics, including the Coronavirus pandemic that started in 2019/2020.

>More background info

>What there is to see

>Location

>Access and costs

>Time required

>Combinations with other dark destinations

>Combinations with non-dark destinations

>Photos

More background info: The building that the museum is housed in was opened in 1787 as the Royal Danish Academy of Surgeons. This was merged with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Copenhagen in the mid-19th century. Doctors were trained here up until 1942.

A first incarnation of the Museion was founded by a group of doctors in 1906 as the Medical History Museum and opened in 1907. Originally, however, it was located in a different building and only moved into its present home in 1947. Administratively it is still part of the University of Copenhagen, where it is attached to the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences.

The museum was given its current name in 2004. Its contents are constantly being updated (as the addition of a Covid-19 section proved to me) and new elements added, but the old core remains the collection of specimens. And it is these that are of prime interest to dark tourists of the “icky medical tourism” category.

What there is to see: quite a lot. Even before you enter the exhibition spaces proper you are greeted by a sculpture in the foyer made entirely out of medical pill strips. There’s also a classical marble statue of a “muscle man”, i.e. without skin.

Then you get your tickets and can start exploring the exhibitions. There are indeed several. There is no strict order in which to see these but I started with the one in the basement that’s entitled “Mind the Gut” and focuses on our digestive tract. It begins with an intro film and some rather over-designed elements before getting down to business, as it were. You learn about how the gut developed in evolution, the chemistry and microbes involved, how the gut can be stimulated and cultivated and so on.

On the ground floor there are sections about replacement body parts, from dentures to glass eyes, an interactive element about ageing, a psychiatry section, which shows the inhumane ways in which people with mental disorders used to be “treated”, as well as a section about medical labs, complete with stuffed lab rats. There are also historical exhibits going back to the more primitive days of medicine, such as bloodletting gear and some meds that from today’s perspective seem decidedly dubious (fancy drops containing lead and cocaine!). This is contrasted with contemporary medical apparatus of various sorts.

A core element on the upper floor is the original auditorium from the days when the building was a training centre for surgeons. The exhibitions on this floor include one about the Covid-19 pandemic, with installations made from nose swabs from testing for Corona, medical staff outfits (full-body protection), plus the familiar face masks, hand sanitizers and fever measuring instruments that so dominated life everywhere during the pandemic.

Also on this floor are a virtual reality offer (which I declined), a section about blindness and one entitled “Balance and Metabolism”.

The main part, and the one of most interest from a dark perspective, however, is the one called “The Body Collected”, the mostly historical collection of specimens. There are also a few wax models, but most exhibits are real bodies/body parts.

They are subdivided into “dry” and “wet”. The former are mostly skeletons, skulls and bones showing all manner of deformities and diseases. The “wet” exhibits are body parts preserved in formaldehyde in jars. This also includes whole bodies, namely of deformed babies, from conjoined twins to a cyclops. One is a partially opened womb with a birth-ready baby inside. Some of these displays are really grisly to look at, but others rather quite angelic. See the photos below.

The museum does not shy away from ethical issues. For instance there is a fetus on display and this comes with a “voting station” where you can leave your vote as to whether you find it ethically acceptable that this fetus is displayed here, without the parents ever having been asked for consent. Most votes were quite negative, but there were also those emphasizing the educational importance of such displays.

All in all, I found this a rather well-made medical museum, striking a good balance between the “ickiness” factor of some of the displays and the museum’s modern approach and wide coverage up to the present day (e.g. the Covid section). Occasionally it’s a little too design-heavy and “arty” for my liking, but mostly it’s quite down to earth. Recommended for anybody with at least a passing interest in medical issues.

Location: towards the northern end of the inner city of Copenhagen, at Bredgade 62.

Google Maps locator: [55.68601, 12.59179]

Access and costs: quite easy to get to; not too expensive (by Copenhagen’s standards).

Details: from within the inner city of Copenhagen, it’s quite easily walkable; for those who need public transport, the metro station (M3/M4) “Marmorkirke” is just 350 yards or so away.

Opening times: from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays to Fridays, only from 12 noon at the weekend; closed Monday.

Admission: 90 DKK.

Bags and coats have to be stored in lockers provided in a cloakroom.

Unlike at other medical museums in the West, photography is not only allowed but encouraged here.

Time required: I spent ca. an hour and a half at this museum, but people with a deeper interest in medical details (e.g. medical students) may well need longer to take it all in.

Combinations with other dark destinations: in general see under Copenhagen.

A major other dark attraction of Copenhagen is only a short walk away: the Danish Resistance Museum, just about 400 yards away to the north-east just south of the Kastellet (old fortress).

Combinations with non-dark destinations: One of Copenhagen’s several Royal palaces is just a five-minute walk away to the south of the museum, the Amalienborg; likewise the associated Frederiks Kirke (aka “marble church”).