Tieranatomisches Theater

From the knowledge theater to the object laboratory

The Animal Anatomical Theater is Berlin's oldest surviving educational building and a masterpiece of Prussian early classicism. Carl Gotthard Langhans (1732 - 1808) designed the dome construction with the spectacular auditorium 1790 almost at the same time as the Brandenburger Tor (1791), which he also planned. Langhans achieved an impressive combination of utility and aesthetics with the first free-standing veterinary anatomy in the history of medicine: the autopsy room, collections, anatomy theater - spaces of investigation and representation merged in the knowledge theater.

Since 2013, the Hermann von Helmholtz Center for Cultural Engineering has been running the Animal Anatomical Theater as a space for laboratory-type exhibitions. The projects are dedicated to the interdisciplinary exploration of material cultures of knowledge and new practices of exhibiting. The dialogue of the humanities and natural sciences with the design disciplines provides the basis for practice-oriented knowledge acquisition and communication. The aim of the exhibitions is to actively and critically expand existing knowledge about objects and collections and to promote transfers to academic and museological practice.

The Veterinary Anatomy Theater is the oldest still existing academic building in Berlin. The building was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, the architect of the Brandenburg Gate, in 1790. For more than 200 years, the neoclassical building has a spectacular staging of knowledge: Autopsy, labs, collections, lecture hall - spaces of research and display merged into a theater of knowledge.

Since 2013, the Hermann von Helmholtz Center for Cultural Studies operates the Animal Anatomical Theater as an experimental exhibition space. Based on research and teaching at the Humboldt University, the projects are dedicated to an interdisciplinary investigation of material cultures of knowledge and new practices in displaying them.