With the human heart beating roughly 3 billion times during an average lifetime, how should we use these heartbeats so we can live as long as possible?
This was only one of the questions that puzzled and preoccupied Istanbul Gov. Hüseyin Avni Mutlu during his visit Thursday to the well-known “Body Worlds, Life Cycle” show, an exhibition of the bodies and organs of more than 200 people, conserved and protected from decomposition through a special method called plastination.
Mehmet Üzel, an anatomy professor at Istanbul’s Cerrahpaşa University and curator of the exhibition, accompanied the governor, explaining to him in detail the meaning of each piece exhibited at the Antrepo 3 gallery in Istanbul’s Karaköy neighborhood.
“I am lost in amazement,” Mutlu said, adding that it was the first time he had visited an anatomical exhibition.
“In many museums, I have learned about [historical developments] and the life of many distinct figures, but this is the first time I have visited one displaying our bodies,” the governor said, calling the exhibition lucid, striking and wonderful.
After viewing the “Body Worlds, Life Cycle” exhibit, Mutlu said he had decided to be more careful with his lifestyle, especially when it comes to nutrition and exercise. “We were given a chance to know ourselves today,” he said.
Showing body parts and organs in all their details, from muscle and bone structures to the nerve and circulation systems, the exhibition reflects the life cycle of a human being. The show displays cadavers depicting the steps through which a human embryo develops in the womb, is born and continues through the phases of life to puberty, adulthood and old age.
The exhibition also displays the anatomy of the system of internal organs, the human brain and the nervous system, as well as the respiratory and digestive systems – all of which are exhibited individually with accompanying facts and figures regarding specific organs and medical advice on how to live a healthy life.
Two sets of lungs, one healthy and pink, the other grey and deteriorated (as are the lungs of a smoker, or someone who lives in a heavily polluted environment), made a strong impression on Mutlu. He told a group of journalists at the end of his visit that although he quit smoking a long time ago, he regretted ever having smoked at all. “I hope people who do not smoke at all also come and visit the exhibition,” he said, adding that he was sure it would encourage non-smokers not to start, and smokers to quit.
The governor, along with others who had been specifically invited to attend the exhibition, was impressed when Üzel explained how the liver, which produces extra blood during fetal growth, could reproduce this function in emergency situations when the body needs more blood to survive.
A detail of the human anatomy that puzzled Mutlu however, was how the lungs start functioning after birth, given that a fetus gestates submerged in amniotic fluid. According to Üzel, at the very first moment after birth, babies have to be lightly hit on the back to stimulate the lungs into functioning.
“The organs seem to be very big, and I still do not understand how they all fit in our body,” Mutlu said, after having visited most of the exhibition.
“Now that I have visited [the show], I will have to re-evaluate some things about myself and my life,” the governor said, encouraging everyone to visit it.
He also said although he read books, played sports and paid special attention to his nutrition, the exhibition had inspired him to be even more careful. “I will read even more, try to memorize more to preserve my memory and I will play more sports to keep my body fit,” Mutlu said.
More than 30 million people have visited the Body Worlds exhibitions in more than 60 cities throughout Europe, Asia and North America. “Body Worlds, Life Cycle” is only one in a series of shows that display the conditions of human and animal bodies and organs, and the complexity, resistance and helplessness of the body when optimally healthy or ill.
The body parts and organs of more than 200 people are presented in detail in the exhibition, having gone through a complex process known as plastination that was first developed by Dr. Gunther von Hagens in 1977 at Germany’s Heidelberg University.
Plastination preserves the body from decomposition and thus offers a full view of the internal organs in all their detail, which has contributed greatly not only to the education of medical students, but also people in general by showing them visually how their bodies function and how to keep them in the most optimally healthy conditions.
When asked whether he would donate his body for plastination, Mutlu said he had never thought of it before, but he praised those who had donated their corpses to educate others on the functions of the human body.
