Munich court overturns ban on Body Worlds
Body Worlds can go ahead this weekend in Munich, a court has ruled, throwing out a ban imposed by the city council which ruled that the show of preserved corpses was an offence against human dignity and in bad taste.
The court yesterday overturned the ban on condition that Body Worlds organisers withdraw some of its most eye-catching exhibits and cut the range of souvenirs on sale when it opens to the public today.
The changes meant the show had “a completely new face”, city official Wilfried Blume-Beyerle said, before hundreds of guests gathered at the opening party last night. ”The sensationalist and human-despising character is gone.”
The show has already attracted protests – and millions of paying visitors – at stops including London, Berlin and Seoul with an array of bodies mounted in striking poses, some skinned or sliced into sections.
The state administrative court backed the argument of the organiser, German doctor Gunther von Hagens, that the show was educational. But it ordered that a corpse posing as a fencer, another riding a preserved horse and a third in which drawers had been built into its limbs be withdrawn.
It also banned the sale of souvenirs such as wrist watches and mouse pads.
Von Hagens had planned to carry out a public autopsy, repeating a show already performed in London last year, but backed down in the face of protests by Munich residents and church leaders.
The remaining exhibits, including a preserved camel being shown for the first time, are to be on show in the Bavarian capital’s former Olympic cycling arena until mid-June.
Von Hagens said yesterday that the court decision “restored the dignity of the donors”.
