Anatomical Theater of Padua
Anatomical Theater of Padua
Architect unknown
1594. 33 x 25 ft.
The first permanent anatomical theater, constructed in 1594, is located at the University of Padua. The building was sponsored by Fabricius of Aquapendente, a Venetian noble and professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Padua from 1562 to 1609 (“Diorama Showing Anatomy Theatre”). Fabricius built the theater with the intention of accommodating the large student population in Padua. While the theater is not very wide, only 33 feet in diameter at the widest point, the innovative design had the capacity to fit 300 people, giving many students the opportunity to be liberally educated in anatomy (“Early Anatomical Theaters”).
The theater radiates out from a dissection table located at the center of an elliptical-shaped room. During an anatomical demonstration, the professor would raise the cadaver onto the table from a small chamber underneath the floor of the theater. In order to slow down the process of decomposition, dissections were typically performed in the winter. The professor would stand next to the body for dissection, while spectators watched from six steep and narrow tiers that circled around the perimeter of the room. The strategical placement of staircases between the tiers and exterior walls allowed spectators to walk to higher levels. Spectators were seated according to rank, with the city and university officials occupying the first tier, and medical students seated above them in higher tiers. All spectators were required to stand because there were no benches. Additionally, when first constructed, the only source of light in the room originated from two chandeliers, each with only four candles. Then, in 1848, windows were added to illuminate the theater. The theater housed public dissections for almost three decades after its construction (“Early Anatomical Theaters”). Now, 422 years later, it still stands in the University of Padua and while it is no longer used for public dissections, it is open to tourists.
The inventive design and structure of the theater reflected the predominant school of education at the time: humanism. The design made the students observers instead of active participants in the dissection, promoting the ideas of docility and acceptance that a humanist education supported (Grafton and Jardine xiv). This humanist approach to education also coincided with Fabricius’ Aristotelian interpretation of anatomy. The construction of Fabricius’ anatomical theater reflects the new humanist pedagogy of the time and marks the change from a Galenic to an Aristotelian approach of teaching anatomy in liberal arts institutions.
At first, students complained of Fabricius’ demonstrational instead of hands-on approach. The students were used to the Galenic approach practiced by Fabricius’ predecessor, Vesalius, who taught students the mechanical skills of dissection, had his students stand next to him while he performed dissections, and encouraged them to hold and touch parts of the cadaver and ask questions (“History of Anatomy Theaters” 376-377). Conversely, Fabricius taught that the study of anatomy was “to be mastered and not questioned” (“Civility, Comportment, and Anatomy Theater” 454). Students listened to Fabricius lecture on Aristotelian thought about searching for interconnectedness within different bodily systems without initiating any debates (“History of Anatomy Theaters” 378-379). Fabricius’ Aristotelian, philosophical discussion of the functions of different organs and how they contributed to the human body as a whole did not require student participation and close observation of the dissection, but rather was more dependent upon students listening to his lecture and accepting his words as facts. Thus, his Aristotelian approach to anatomy closely aligned with the humanist philosophy of education.
While the anatomical theater of Padua is commonly discussed in relation to Vesalius and his teaching methods, this traditional depiction of the anatomical theater fails to portray how it is a reflection of Fabricius’ pedagogy as well. Standing many levels above the professor and the cadaver, the students were in the perfect position to examine the whole body from a birds’ eye view. They could see how different systems of organs worked together in order to function, but they were not in a position to closely examine specific organs. Also, contradictory to Vesalius’ approach of teaching dissection and anatomy, the theater did not create a space that encouraged discussion between the professor and the student. The lack of discussion promoted by the design of the anatomical theater aligns with the humanist beliefs of acceptance and conformity. Thus, the anatomical theater encouraged Fabricius’ humanist and Aristotelian approach for teaching anatomy in early modern liberal arts institutions.
Works Cited
"Diorama Showing the Anatomy Theatre at Padua in 1594, England, 1901-1950." Science Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2016. <http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/online_science/explore_our_collections/objects/index/smxg-140830>.
"Early Anatomical Theaters." The Medical Alumni Association. University of Maryland. Web. 04 Apr. 2016. <http://www.medicalalumni.org/early-anatomical-theaters/>.
Grafton, Anthony, and Jardine, Lisa. From Humanism to the Humanities. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986. Print.
Klestinec, Cynthia. "A History of Anatomy Theaters in Sixteenth-Century Padua. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 59.3 (2004): 375-412. Print.
Klestinec, Cynthia. “Civility, Comportment, and the Anatomy Theater: Girolamo Fabrici and His Medical Students in Renaissance Padua”. Renaissance Quarterly 60.2 (2007): 434–463. Print.