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About us

As the leader in plastination, our range of innovative educational resources is designed to teach current and future medical and healthcare professionals. Improving the anatomical knowledge and education of future doctors is ingrained in our service and commitment to the medical and health sciences.

Our Mission

Our mission is to advance the education of medical and health science practitioners through the dissemination of refined anatomical specimens, rendered through the groundbreaking science of plastination invented by Dr. Gunther von Hagens in 1977.

True Anatomy for New Ways of Teaching

von Hagens Plastination offers one-of-a-kind, real human teaching specimens. These unique teaching resources are made possible through the revolutionary preservation process of Plastination, invented by anatomist Dr Gunther von Hagens, founder of von Hagens Plastination. All of our specimens are made in Germany and stem from body donors who donated their bodies with willed legal consent in their lifetime, for the education of future generations. Specimens of human origin are exclusively available for medical teaching and research.

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"The anatomist alone is assigned a specific role, he is forced in his daily work to reject the taboos and convictions that people have about death and the dead. I myself am not controversial, but my exhibitions are, because I am asking viewers to transcend their fundamental beliefs and convictions about our joint and inescapable fate. I hope for the exhibitions to be places of enlightenment and contemplation, even of philosophy and religious self-recognition, and open to interpretation regardless of the background and philosophy of the viewer."
Dr Gunther von Hagens

Dear Fellow Educator,


When I invented Plastination my intention was to allow people of all educational backgrounds to learn more about health and anatomy through real human specimens. In 1982 I offered the first plastinates and anatomical specimens for teaching and research purposes to universities. Through the BODY WORLDS exhibitions, that began touring in 1996, we have introduced plastination to a broad audience.

Today more than 50 million people have seen BODY WORLDS which makes it the most successful travelling exhibition in the world. The success of BODY WORLDS enabled me to create the most innovative and largest Plastination center in the world, in Guben, Germany in 2006. Our 70 employees work to plastinate real anatomical teaching specimens for von Hagens Plastination. I also continue to work with my team to continuously develop and improve the Plastination process.

As the inventor of Plastination I am proud to be able to present original specimens that reflect the most advanced standards of my Plastination science. We hope to show you of the advantages and superior quality of our plastinated specimens.

Our human specimens stem from the Institute for Plastination’s body donation program, which I founded in 1993. All body donors have given their written consent during their lifetime that their bodies should be used for the education of future generations through Plastination. Plastinated specimens of human origin are only available to "Qualified Users," such as universities or medical practitioners, who can prove their need for anatomical teaching specimens to fulfill their research and educational goals.

We are convinced and we hope you agree, that von von Hagens Plastination's specimens will be a valuable contribution to your educational program.

If you have questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to call, e-mail or — even better — visit us in Guben. We are looking forward to meeting you!

Yours sincerely,


Dr Gunther von Hagens

Inventor of Plastination, Creator of BODY WORLDS and PLASTINARIUM
such as Founder of von Hagens Plastination / Gubener Plastinate GmbH