Museum Boerhaave

Baby arms in jars, skeleton dioramas, and displays of medical devices draw the morbidly fascinated to Museum Boerhaave in Leiden, Netherlands. Walking through the exhibits halls filled with artifacts from the anatomical, medical, and scientific history of the Netherlands, visitors are reminded that they are mere mortals - literally. Latin phrases meant to inspire contemplation of one’s own mortality are held up by a series of articulated skeletons:

We are but dust and shadow.