'Body Worlds' exhibit coming to The Leonardo

Leonardo executive director Mary Tull on Wednesday announced plans to host the third installment of the popular human-body exhibit for a limited engagement beginning Sept. 19.

"Body Worlds 3: The Original Exhibition of Real Human Bodies" and companion exhibit "The Story of the Heart" will span nearly 20,000 square feet and feature more than 200 human bodies, allowing visitors to learn about anatomy, physiology and health by viewing the real thing.

The exhibit will run for about 4 1/2 months in the old Salt Lake City library building, 209 E. 500 South, where The Leonardo science-art museum ultimately will be housed.

Since debuting in Japan in 1996, "Body Worlds" has been viewed by 25 million people in 47 countries across Asia, Europe and North America. Leonardo officials estimate that hundreds of thousands of people will pay to see the exhibit in Salt Lake City, much like previous tour stops in Los Angeles (665,000 visitors), Boston (553,000), Phoenix (420,000) and Chicago (380,000).

"Bringing an exhibit like this to Salt Lake City will continue to establish Salt Lake as a hub for the Intermountain West," Tull said during a press conference at the Salt Lake City Library. "As Utahns, we are ready to host this world-class exhibition and important educational and cultural event."

"Body Worlds" takes visitors on a journey through major systems of the body, including the locomotive, nervous, reproductive, digestive and cardiovascular systems. In addition, "The Story of the Heart" reveals through the lenses of anatomy, cardiology, psychology and culture how the heart nourishes, regulates and sustains human life.

"Everywhere it opens, it creates a buzz," Tull said of the exhibit. "Why? Because it deals with some of the most important personal, human issues we face — our mortality, our health and the personal choices that we make for ourselves and our families."

The specimens in "Body Worlds" are created from a process called plastination, in which body fluids are replaced with chemicals that harden and preserve the body. The process was invented in the 1970s by Dr. Gunther von Hagens, the exhibit's creator.

All specimens were donated to von Hagens' Institute for Plastination in Heidelberg, Germany, by adults during their lifetimes. The institute has more than 8,000 donors on its roster, including nearly 800 Americans. The bodies — or plastinates — are posed to emphasize certain systems of the body, such as athletic poses highlighting specific muscle groups.

"The lifelike poses of the full-body specimens enable visitors to see with their own eyes the staggeringly complex network of muscles, neurons, bones, tendons and blood vessels that make up our body," Tull said.

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