Die Meckelschen Sammlungen

With more than 8000 specimens, the Meckel Collections of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg are among the largest anatomical teaching and research collections in Germany. They were founded in Berlin in the middle of the 18th century under Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder (1724-1774). Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel (1755-1803), who was called to Halle in 1777 and came to Halle in 1779, and his son Johann Friedrich Meckeld.J. (1781-1833) expanded them into a huge arsenal. In 1836 the private collections came into the possession of Halle University through sale. Unfortunately, many valuable specimens were lost due to relocations from the giant house in Halle, the Meckel's residence, to the Residenz, so that the stock of about 12,000, probably 16,000 specimens shrank considerably. The following anatomists used all their efforts to save the most valuable specimens, di.