WikiVet visit Maisons-Alfort École Vétérinaire - News
In February we visited the École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort school to meet Professor Christophe Degueurce. Professor Degueurce is not only a senior member of academic staff but also the Curator of the incredible Fragonard Museum. Our visit was primarily to discuss the potential to collaborate with WikiVet’s new Online Veterinary Anatomy Musuem (OVAM) but we were also taken on a fascinating tour of the campus.
The vet school is the second oldest in the world (after the Ecole Vétérinaire de Lyon) and was founded in 1765 by veterinary anatomist Honoré Fragonard. It moved in 1766 to its current location on a large urban campus to the South West of Paris in Maisons-Alfort. Many of the original buildings are still being used including the anatomy lecture theatre, museum and stables – we have posted some of our photos from the visit here.
The anatomy museum itself is one of the oldest museums in France and a fascinating insight into veterinary education of the past. It was also established by Professor Fragonard in 1766 with the school and opened to the public in 1991. Amongst thousands of veterinary specimens, the museum also hosts the famous "écorchés" (flayed figures) which are almost as impressive as any plastinated specimens developed today. These include a dissection of a human arm where the muscles and nerves have been dissected out and blood vessels injected with coloured wax (blue for the veins, red for the arteries!) as well as the Horseman of the Apocalypse..
As a result of the visit, Professor Degueurce has offered to provide a large number of anatomical images for the OVAM project. It was agreed to promote stronger links between the WikiVet project and Maisons-Alfort including the further development of the French version of the site.
Anybody who has a chance to visit the museum can find further details on the web site below. Professor Degueurce’s book on the écorchés is recommended too!
Maisons-Alfort École Vétérinaire website : www.vet-alfort.fr/
Musée Fragonard d'Alfort : http://musee.vet-alfort.fr/
Les écorchés (English - Hardback) : Amazon