15 Museum of Wax Moulages

15

Museum of Wax Moulages

Head: Dr. M. Geiges

In the Museums’ Night 2019, in which we answered previously collected questions on the topic of “syphilis” with a small exhibition, over 900 people once again visited the Museum of Wax Moulages. Over the whole year we counted 4,500 visitors. Several short reports appeared in the media and moulages were lent out for external exhibitions. At the annual congress of the International Society for Evolution, Medicine & Public Health (ISEMPH) in Zurich, wax moulages on smallpox and measles illustrated the topic of viral diseases and vaccination – shortly before this topic dominated the world a year later.

In summer 2019, the Sinergia-SNF research project “An interdisciplinary model to explain never-ending infectious diseases. The case of syphilis.” of the University of Geneva, in collaboration with the University of Strasbourg, the Museum of Wax Moulages Zurich and the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine of UZH, was approved but could only start with a delay with digital meetings and delays due to the pandemic.

Also for the Museum of Wax Moulages, the year 2020 was dominated by the corona pandemic. The Museums’ Night had to be cancelled. Twice the museum was closed for several weeks and in between, with a strict hygiene plan, up to a maximum of 12 people could visit the museum at the same time. Seminars had to be moved to the digital space (Zoom) with the help of lectures by the curator (CAS course Medlaw, PhD seminars). The introductory course “Dermatology” in medical studies was distributed among 43 small groups, which were given access to the otherwise closed building for self-study accompanied by detailed documentation. The focus in 2020 was on the professional processing of the museum’s archives and on conservation and restoration. This work was actively supported by our freelancer Johanna Stierlin, who completed an internship at the Moulagenmuseum as part of the Bachelor’s Degree in Restoration and Conservation of the University of Bern.