Glass woman now on display in air-conditioned showcase

The German Hygiene Museum in Dresden has its most famous exhibit back - the Glass Woman. In future, the figure, which allows a look inside the human body with all its organs, will be exhibited in a double-glazed and air-conditioned display case, the museum announced. Three years ago, the valuable figure was removed from the permanent exhibition because high humidity and fluctuating temperatures accelerated the ageing process and threatened irreparable damage.

Cool air and low humidity as an ideal "habitat"

The display case is now intended to ensure the long-term preservation of the Glass Woman. Like other historical educational figures on anatomy, the exhibit is not actually made of glass, but of cellulose acetate. However, this plastic discolors over time. In order to give the famous figure as long a life as possible, it is now kept cool at temperatures between 15 and 18 degrees Celsius and low humidity. The display case air is also constantly exchanged via a filter.

The German Hygiene Museum in Dresden was founded in 1912 at the instigation of entrepreneur Karl Lingner as an educational institution for health education. The Glass Woman was constructed here in the mid-1930s on behalf of an American textile manufacturer. The Science Center St. Louis donated it to the German Historical Museum in Berlin in 1988, and it returned to Dresden on permanent loan in 1990. A Glass Woman was also on display here during the GDR era. Today, there are other figures where you can view the organs.