Body Worlds creator Gunther von Hagens dies at 81, his body to be plastinated per his wishes

Death and final wishes

Gunther von Hagens died on 24 July 2026 at a clinic in Heidelberg, Germany, one day after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage. He was 81. Von Hagens had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2008 and had lived with the condition for nearly two decades. His family and the Institute for Plastination announced his death on Monday 27 July 2026.

Gunther wanted to give people the opportunity to look beneath the skin -- not out of sensationalism, but from the deep conviction that knowledge of one's own body can contribute to a more conscious, healthier responsible life. His work was scientific, educational and deeply humanistic. He enabled millions of people to see their own bodies in a new light.

Long before his death, von Hagens had expressed a clear wish for what should happen to his remains. A spokesperson for the Plastinarium in Guben, the museum he founded in 2006, confirmed that his body will definitely be plastinated. Where the plastinated body will be displayed has not yet been determined. In 2018, he wrote in The Guardian that he could envisage his plastinated body standing in a welcoming pose at the entrance of an exhibition, or rendered into slices and distributed across various sites.

The plastination technique and Body Worlds

Von Hagens invented plastination in 1977 while working as a research scientist at the University of Heidelberg's Institute of Pathology and Anatomy. The technique involves extracting bodily fluids and soluble fat from a dead body and replacing them with silicone, epoxy resin or polymer rubber. The resulting specimens are rigid, odourless and can be posed in lifelike positions, making muscles, skeletons and organs visible. He described his moment of insight: looking at specimens embedded in plastic, he wondered why the plastic was poured around bodies rather than into them.

Together with his wife and curator Dr Angelina Whalley, von Hagens created the Body Worlds exhibitions, which began touring globally in the late 1990s. More than 58 million people have visited the exhibitions since their debut, according to the Institute for Plastination. The specimens on display came from body donors who, during their lifetimes, decided to donate their bodies for plastination and scientific research. The institute said the exhibitions encouraged reflection on health, disease, lifestyle and mortality.

A life shaped by Cold War Europe

Von Hagens was born Gunther Gerhard Liebchen in January 1945 in Skalmierzyce, Poland, then under German occupation and named Alt-Skalden. He grew up in socialist East Germany and took part in protests against the violent Soviet suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968. The following year he was imprisoned after attempting to flee to the West. In 1970 West Germany paid 40,000 deutschmarks for his release as a political prisoner. After reaching the West he met and married Cornelia von Hagens, adopting her surname and its connotations of nobility.

Controversies and legal challenges

The Body Worlds exhibitions faced ban requests and legal challenges around the world. A permanent exhibition on Alexanderplatz in Berlin, opened in 2015 at the foot of the television tower, was challenged by the district authorities who argued it violated regional burial laws. After several court rulings, the museum adapted its display. In Moscow, authorities launched an investigation in 2021 into whether the exhibition violated Russian moral values and legislation. Religious groups and other organisations frequently objected to the public display of human remains.

In 2002 von Hagens caused a new wave of controversy by performing the first public autopsy in London in 170 years, filmed by television cameras. Authorities had warned the event could be illegal, but no charges were ultimately brought. Critics over the years accused him of voyeurism and profiting commercially from death.

My father never accepted that boundaries were fixed. He brought anatomy out of the closed world of specialists and into society. His courage, his perseverance and his unwavering belief that education serves humanity will continue to guide us.

Legacy

The Institute for Plastination described von Hagens as a pioneer, researcher, inventor and creator whose life's work united scientific precision with exceptional craftsmanship, artistic expression and a strong commitment to education. His wife Angelina Whalley said his work was scientific, educational and deeply humanistic. Von Hagens himself once called mortality the greatest insult to humanity. His son Rurik von Hagens said he brought anatomy out of the closed world of specialists and into society.