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Opening weekend 12-13 December
Reserve your place from 17 November onwards
Care and science in every phase of life
Plan your visit
What is there to see and do? Living care and science
Vesalius Museum - an initiative of KU Leuven and UZ Leuven - is opening in the heart of the city: a place where healthcare comes to life and science is at our fingertips.
Why does your heart beat? How does a wound heal? What makes us human? And who cares for you?
Vesalius Museum encourages you to explore every aspect of care, from every perspective: historical, ethical, artistic, human and scientific.
Plan your visit
More information
Tickets & opening hours
Opening hours, ticket prices and practical information for your visit.
Groups
Visit the museum with your association, colleagues or family.
Schools
Tours, educational packs and ticket prices for schools.
Where is the museum located? Two buildings, one museum
Vesalius Museum is housed in the historic buildings of the Anatomical Theatre and the Pathology Institute: two places where dissections and medical research took place in the past.
You can find us at the Hertogensite in the centre of Leuven, between the Oude Markt and the Kruidtuin.
source of inspiration Who was Andreas Vesalius?
Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) studied the human body in a radically new way. Unlike his contemporaries, who based their research on ancient texts, he did his own research. He dissected bodies himself and described carefully what he saw.
Leuven played a key role in Vesalius’ development. He went there to study when he was fifteen, and after a period in Paris, he returned to Leuven to obtain a medical degree. Then he was allowed to dissect the bodies of executed criminals himself.
That experience convinced Vesalius that knowledge comes from observing, questioning and examining. It laid the foundations for his masterpiece, De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543). This anatomy textbook is considered to be the beginning of modern anatomy and medicine.