On Saturday, we took a trip to the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas to see the Body Worlds exhibit. In attendance were myself and James, Bobby and Ian, Brian, Jonas and Dietrich, and our trip coordinator, Layton. For those that don’t know, Body Worlds is an exhibition of real, preserved human bodies. Detailed information is available at the official website and the Wikipedia entry.
For me, I found the exhibit illuminating, exhilarating and even beautiful. I had read some of the criticisms of the exhibits before going. Anyone seeing the displays first hand would immediately dismiss the criticisms, as I did. It is clear that the exhibit is meant to be educational, informative and inspirational. Detailed explanations accompany the displays to educate the viewer what they are looking at. I was surprised by the number of children in attendance, many of whom were with attentive parents that took the time to explain the displays.
The care that obviously has gone into preserving the bodies and creating the displays is very evident and seems to be the hallmark of a creator who posesses a deep appreciation and affection for the human body. If an eyelid was present, you would even find the eyelashes have been preserved. On one display that had the skin on the shoulder, a tattoo (USC Trojan) was still present. Most displays had the outer skin removed in order to highlight the organs, nerves and bones within. The displays would have looked much differently, I think, if they had been created for sensational purposes. Another almost common sight was some sort of previously inserted prosthesis or splint. There were metal plates mending bones, artificial hips and joints, etc, present in many of the displays. One person had so many we wondered if he had them in real life or if they had been inserted after death for illustration.
At any rate, I would highly recommend the exhibition to anyone over about 12.
Afterwards, we all went to the Angry Dog afterwards for lunch. Most of us had burgers and beer. It was good but not great. James and I came home and took naps before dinner. It was a fun day!
I had to pass on this one. I was a little bit curious, but ehhhh. It wasn’t the content or the price of admission so much as it was that I was going to have to go into Downtown Houston to see it. That, my friend, crosses the line.
Hi, sorry about not keeping up! My RSS aggregator died and I just now am setting up my new one.
I enjoyed the Body Worlds exhibit for its content. Unfortunately, the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science (née The Science Place) dropped the ball for the exhibition. Lighting was aweful. Staff were aweful, as usual.
Interestingly, I was talking to a friend who went to the Houston show, and it was quite different. They had very few of the specimens that we had in Dallas.
Yeah, Angry Dog doesn’t have great burgers, imo. The Dog is okay. I like their wings, and the fried chicken sub, buffalo style, is pretty kickin’.
You should have given us a call since you were in the neighborhood!