In the News: ‘Rearing Horse With Rider,’ plastinated horse, debuts in Times Square

That’s the headline from a Huffington Post story about the latest addition to the Body Worlds anatomy exhibition.

Top photo: Huffington Post

German anatomist and Body Worlds creator Dr. Gunther von Hagens spent three years creating the 12-foot-tall equestrian statue. His work employs a preservation technique he invented called plastination that replaces bodily fluids and fats with plastic.

Von Hagens says the piece was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s unfinished bronze sculpture “Horse for a Nobleman.” The human cadaver is from a journalist who requested that his body be donated and preserved; the horse was privately donated after being euthanized for a broken limb.

According to Huffington Post,

Its bones, muscles and anatomical structures are intact and separated for a scientific–and just plain awesome–never-before-seen view of the animal.”

Photo: Huffington Post

Von Hagens’ traveling exhibitions have been visited by over 26 million visitors worldwide.

Video: An overview of Body Worlds and explanation of the plastination process.

Von Hagens told the New York Daily News that “Rearing Horse With Rider” was his pièce de résistance.

The work of an entire life in science–the recklessness and conviction, the experimentation and failure … and every known human flaw and folly–is often embodied and crystalized in a single unit of invention. Mine is ‘The Rearing Horse With Rider,’” he said. “It holds the breadth of my 35-year career as an anatomist.”

An interview with Von Hagens about his new work from IB Times:

While it is currently on public display, “Rearing Horse and Rider” will permanently housed in Body Worlds‘ permanent exhibition space, The Body Worlds: Pulse Exhibit, at Discovery Times Square.

Read the full story here.

Go Riding FOREVER, mwah-ha-ha.