In addition to skeletons and bone specimens, the Veterinary Anatomy Teaching Collection contains specimens of organs and organ systems of various domestic mammals, birds, reptiles and small mammals as well as individual specimens of zoo and wild animals. The teaching material is used during veterinary training but is accessible to students for private study.
The collection was established under the direction of Hermann Baum in the years after 1923, following the Institute of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology’s move from Dresden to Leipzig. Its specimens probably came from the extensive collection of the Royal Veterinary College. This was almost completely destroyed by the air raids in December 1943.
Many of the 550 or so objects in the collection date back to the 1950s and 1960s, with new specimens supplementing the range since then. Among the oldest pieces are a number of injected lymph vessel specimens which, tradition has it, were made by Hermann Baum. He was both the first director of the institute and at the same time the first dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, which was founded in 1923.
The collection can be viewed by appointment.