Corpse exhibition 'educational'

LONDON, England -- An exhibition of corpses and body parts plans to educate not shock, the man behind the show said.

The exhibition, opening in London this weekend, features 25 perfectly skinned and preserved humans and has already had eight million visitors worldwide.

The German anatomist professor behind the show, Gunther von Hagens, said: "What we show is the beauty of the body's interior."

The centrepiece of the show, which opens at London's Atlantis Gallery on Saturday, is the body of a man, who discussed his future pose as a flayed rider sitting on a horse in depth with Hagens before his death.

This exhibit is based on a sculpture by 18th-century French anatomist Honore Fragonard.

Hagens said: "I discussed the example of Fragonard, and discussed that I would consider doing this with him, while he was fatally ill."

The rider now carries his brain in one hand and that of his horse in the other.

A plastination process, which replaces fat and water in body tissue with plastic, ensures that the bodies on display are safe, durable and pliable.

Donors, who consent to have their bodies infused with plastic, often discuss their eventual fate in great detail with von Hagens.

He told Reuters: "I don't want to shock. I want to educate."

All corpses were donated, almost exclusively by Germans and most were young.

Some of the corpses were donated by terminally ill people who said they wanted to help the public understand the importance of taking care of their bodies.

At the height of Hagens' German exhibition, about five people a day donated their bodies, and this week the professor had his first British body donation.

The donation came from a 35-year old Londoner, Stephen Brand, who is currently working in the IT business in Belgium.

He said: " I'm not keen on being cremated or put in the ground.

"My mother died when she was very young, at the age of 40, of cancer. I was 15 when she died. If there's anything I can do to help medical understanding, then I will."