Anatomical machines Anatomical machines The anatomical machines (Italian: "macchine anatomiche") are a couple of anatomical models reproducing the human circulatory system, exposed in the Cappella Sansevero in Naples. Realised in the second half of the 18th century, they are built on top of a couple of human skeletons, a male and a female. The reproduction of the vessel system was realised with metal wire, wax and silk, but because of its richness in details, for a long time it was believed that it was of natural origin instead. The models were commissioned by Raimondo di Sangro, prince of Sansevero, and realised by
Anatomical theatre theatre; in Leiden, 17th-century depictions show that the living observers were actually accompanied in the rows by a large number of animal and human skeletons, some of which held banners with inscriptions such as "Memento mori", or, freely translated, "Remember, you will die". The first anatomical theatre was built at the University of Padua in 1594 and is still preserved. Other early examples include the Theatrum Anatomicum of Leiden University, built in 1596 and reconstructed in 1988, and the Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio in Bologna (whose building dates from 1563 and the anatomical theatre from 1637). The anatomical theatre