Tucked inside a stately building in Philadelphia, the Mütter Museum offers one of the most fascinating and unsettling journeys through medical history. A mix of science and spectacle, this collection at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia showcases everything from preserved organs and deformed skeletons to President Grover Cleveland’s jaw tumor and slices of Albert Einstein’s brain.
Though it may resemble a cabinet of curiosities, the museum honors Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter, a pioneering 19th-century surgeon known for his compassion and innovation. What began as a teaching collection has become a world-renowned destination for those intrigued by the human body in all its complexity.
Click through the gallery to discover how the strange and the scientific share space on the same shelf.