HOUSE OF WAX: ANATOMICAL, PATHOLOGICAL, AND ETHNOGRAPHIC WAXWORKS FROM CASTAN’S PANOPTIKON, 1869-1922

October 23, 2015 - May 30th, 2016

The Morbid Anatomy Museum, a 4,200-square-foot space that once stood on an unassuming street corner in south Brooklyn, housed a hidden treasure. Known for its eclectic lectures, popular taxidermy workshops, and extensive research library, the museum also became home to what was likely the largest and most diverse wax anatomical collection on view in the country—House of Wax.

This remarkable collection featured dozens of intricately detailed wax figures, death masks, ethnographic busts, and anatomically accurate human bodies, all originally sculpted over a century ago, offering a rare glimpse into historical anatomical artistry.

All photos by Michelle Enemark for Atlas Obscura.

Wax anatomical Venuses, signed by E. E. Hammer, one of the most prolific wax sculptors of the time.

Wax anatomical Venuses, signed by E. E. Hammer, one of the most prolific wax sculptors of the time.

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In the center of the exhibit lie two “Anatomical Venuses“—wax beauties with braided hair, eyelashes, and peaceful faces, ripped open at the abdomen to reveal the unborn fetuses within.
Plaster cross section of human head (not from Castan’s Panopticum).
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Case containing a variety of disembodied male wax heads in various states of disrepair.
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