Hall of the former Delmas-Orfila-Rouvière museums

They waited ten years in the cupboards of the former Delmas-Orfila-Rouvière Museum. Welcomed in 2015, the Amador collections are now on display on the second floor of the University of Montpellier's anatomy conservatory. Precious witnesses to the history of anatomy, some of these items were used to teach medical students in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Historical and scientific, they are also of artistic interest, as in the case of the "Sleeping Venus", Dr. Auzoux's educational waxworks, or a monkey skinned by Fragonard.

The arrival of this collection in Montpellier is a major event in the history of anatomy: it includes over 13,000 real or artificial pieces, classified as historical monuments, from the former Delmas-Orfila-Rouvière anatomical museums, formerly located on the premises of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris.

These museums bear the names of Mathieu-Joseph-Bonaventure Orfila (1787-1853), the founder of the original collection in the 1840s, as well as those of Henri Rouvière (1876-1952) and André Delmas (1910-1999), both professors of anatomy at the Paris Faculty of Medicine, who worked on its study and enrichment.

A new room has been fitted out in the Faculty of Medicine's historic building to house these new collections. The current presentation highlights the former Delmas-Orfila-Rouvière university museums, as well as a special anatomical collection from Doctor Spitzner's former fairground museum.