Introducing www.moulagen.de, Soon to be the On-Line Moulage Encyclopedia

Moulages are three dimensional teaching aids in wax... Like a plastic textbook, the moulages represented the appearance of diseases highly true to nature. In the 2nd half of the 20th century many moulage collections were neglected, forgotten or even destroyed as outdated objects for teaching. Today moulages face quite a renaissance worldwide. As visually telling objects they are used in medical exhibitions and art shows as well as in medical teaching contexts.

The Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charité has just launched a new web-initiative called www.moulagen.de; the website seeks to create, via user participation, an online, accessible database of all known moulage collections, and to connect the various people who work with moulage--such as curators, restorers, artists, curators, enthusiasts and scholars--with one another and to encourage the sharing of resources, tips, and news within the community. The site will ultimately be in German and English, though the English parts of the site are somewhat limited at the moment.

I was lucky to see enough to see the people behind this website--Thomas Schnalke, Isabel Atzl and Navena Widulin--present an inspiring lecture on the project at the recent "Wax Moulages as Cultural Artefacts" conference in Dresden, and I really admired their enthusiasm and vision, and the scope of what they proposed. If you have or work with a moulage collection, I urge you to visit the website and fill out their brief questionnaire (scroll down to the bottom to find both an English and German version) to participate in the building of this wonderfully conceived database project.

If you are fan of moulage, stay tuned; one hopes that, down the road, this website will become the definitive portal for learning about moulage and discovering the incredible moulage collections--such as le Musée des moulages de l'hôpital Saint-Louis in Paris, pictured above--that still exist around the world.

Here is more about the project, in Thomas' words:

Welcome to www.moulagen.de

Moulages are three dimensional teaching aids in wax. They were largely used between 1850 and 1950. Starting from Europe, there were soon many clinics worldwide collecting, keeping, and presenting sometimes thousands of these objects in specific collections. Like a plastic textbook, the moulages represented the appearance of diseases highly true to nature. In the 2nd half of the 20th century many moulage collections were neglected, forgotten or even destroyed as outdated objects for teaching. Today moulages face quite a renaissance worldwide. As visually telling objects they are used in medical exhibitions and art shows as well as in medical teaching contexts.

There are quite a few aims of this site: It should make more information on moulages and the art of moulaging available, plus it wants to introduce the interested audience to various specific collections. In addition, all current activities, such as exhibitions or research projects connected with moulages, should be listed. With indicating relevant literature and links we want to encourage others to deepen their interest in and work on and with moulages.

If you want to register your moulage collection in this portal, please go to our website www.moulagen.de, download and fill in the questionnaire and send it back to us via E-mail. Thank you very much for your contribution!

Thanks again for your help.
Best wishes
Thomas

Herzlichen Willkommen auf www.moulagen.de!

Moulagen sind ursprünglich medizinische Lehrmittel, deren Nutzung vor allem zwischen 1850 und 1950 weit verbreitet war. Deutschland- und europaweit verfügten viele Kliniken über große Sammlungen mit mehreren tausend Moulagen, die wie ein Lehrbuch Krankheitszeichen naturgetreu darstellten. In der 2. Hälfte, des 20. Jahrhunderts gerieten viele Sammlungen in Vergessenheit oder wurden als unzeitgemäße Lehrobjekte zerstört. Heute erleben Moulagen eine große Renaissance, werden als anschauliche Objekte in medizinische und künstlerische Ausstellungen integriert, wieder als Lehrmittel eingesetzt oder gar neu angefertigt.

Ziel dieser Seite ist es zum einen, Informationen zu Moulagen zu vermitteln und zum anderen einzelne Sammlungen vorzustellen. Außerdem sollen aktuelle Projekte wie Ausstellungen oder Forschungsarbeiten vorgestellt werden, in denen Moulagen eine Rolle spielen, sowie Literaturhinweise und Links eine weitere Beschäftigung mit Moulagen anregen.

Sollten Sie eine Aufnahme ihrer Moulagensammlung in dieses Portal anstreben, füllen Sie bitte den Fragebogen aus und senden ihn via E-mail zurück. Herzlichen Dank für Ihre Mühe!

You can visit the www.moulagen.de website by clicking here. Photo is from one of my favorite moulage museums in the world, the incredible Musée des moulages de l'hôpital Saint-Louis of Paris, taken on my first visit to the museum earlier this year. Click here to visit the museum website.