When you stroll through a museum, you expect to see art, artifacts, and historical treasures—but occasionally, the exhibits take a more… anatomical turn. In this top 10 human list we dive into the most curious, controversial, and downright eerie human body parts that have found a home behind glass cases around the globe. Ready for a macabre museum tour? Let’s begin.
10 Grigori Rasputin’s Penis
Grigori Rasputin, the mystic advisor to Russia’s Romanov dynasty, met a violent end in 1916. Yet his most infamous legacy may be the 33‑centimetre (13‑inch) penis that now rests in St. Petersburg’s Museum of Erotica. According to his daughter, Marie, the length measured 33 cm when flaccid—well over three times the average flaccid size of 9.2 cm (3.6 in) and comparable to the average erect length of 13.1 cm (5.2 in).
The fate of the organ is shrouded in mystery. One tale claims Rasputin’s assassins sliced it off, after which a cleaning maid, impressed by the find, absconded with it. Another version suggests a mistress seized it during the autopsy. Marie eventually recovered the organ, only for it to vanish after her 1977 death, reappear briefly when a Michael Augustine tried to auction it—only to discover it was a sea cucumber. The genuine specimen resurfaced in the hands of a French collector, who sold it to a Russian doctor in 2004; the doctor donated it to the museum, where it joins other erotic curiosities.
Controversy persists: some argue the displayed phallus isn’t Rasputin’s or even human. Nonetheless, a 33‑centimetre penis undeniably occupies a glass case in Russia.
9 Albert Einstein’s Brain
Part of Albert Einstein’s cerebrum resides at Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum. Ironically, the genius himself had requested cremation to avoid posthumous idolization. Yet after his April 18, 1955 death, pathologist Thomas Harvey covertly excised the brain—and the eyes. Einstein’s family later consented to Harvey retaining the organ for scientific study.
Harvey, aided by lab physician Marta Keller, sliced the brain into roughly 1,000 thin sections, distributing them among various pathologists. Dr. William Ehrich of Philadelphia General Hospital received 46 slides, which, after his passing, were handed to Dr. Allen Steinberg, then to Dr. Lucy Rorke‑Adams, who ultimately donated them to the Mutter Museum. Approximately 350 slides also live at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Maryland.
The Mutter Museum’s collection extends beyond Einstein’s brain, featuring the conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker’s fused livers, the “Soap Lady” of Philadelphia, and a 2.7‑metre (9‑ft) colon packed with 18 kg (40 lb) of feces. Visitors are often warned to fast before entering—just in case.
8 Jeremy Bentham’s Head
Philosopher Jeremy Bentham, famed for his utilitarian ideas and whimsical cat named The Reverend Sir John Langbourne, stipulated that his body be preserved for perpetual attendance at his friends’ gatherings. Consequently, his mummified form is displayed at University College London. However, his actual head was removed and replaced with a wax replica.
Bentham’s request called for his head to be embalmed using Maori techniques—a method unfamiliar to his friend, Dr. Southwood Smith, who performed the embalming. The botched process left the head in poor condition, necessitating its removal. The genuine head was displayed for a time before being stowed away in the 1990s after a student theft incident.
Thus, while Bentham’s body remains on view, the head you see is a wax facsimile, and the original resides, at times, in storage.
7 Galileo Galilei’s Tooth And Fingers
Renowned astronomer Galileo Galilei died in 1642, and in 1737, as his remains were being transferred to a new tomb opposite Michelangelo’s in Florence, opportunistic admirers pilfered three of his fingers, a tooth, and a vertebra. One finger found a home at the Museum of the History of Science in Florence; the remaining thumb, middle finger, and tooth were kept privately by a family.
Those private holdings vanished during the 20th century but resurfaced in 2009. To prevent further loss, the museum reacquired the missing fingers and tooth, now exhibiting them alongside the third finger. The museum even renamed itself the Galileo Museum, boasting the most extensive collection of his bodily remnants. Meanwhile, Galileo’s vertebra remains at the University of Padua.
Visitors can thus glimpse the very digits that once pointed toward the heavens.
6 Antonio Scarpa’s Head
Italian anatomist and neurologist Antonio Scarpa, who died on October 31, 1832, cultivated more enemies than allies during his tenure at the University of Pavia. Known for his arrogance, rumor‑spreading, and nepotism, Scarpa’s post‑mortem was performed by former assistant Carlo Beolchin, who removed Scarpa’s head, thumb, index finger, and urinary tract—though motives remain unclear.
Speculation ranges from Beolchin preserving the parts for scientific posterity to a retaliatory act against his former mentor. Rivals even defaced a marble statue honoring Scarpa. While the head was initially hidden, it later resurfaced at the Museo per la storia dell’Università di Pavia, where it is displayed. The remaining parts reside in an Italian museum but are kept in storage.
Thus, Scarpa’s head enjoys a modest exhibition, while the rest of his anatomy lies concealed.
5 Charles Babbage’s Brain
Charles Babbage, celebrated as the “father of the computer,” has his brain split between London’s Science Museum and the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons. Unlike Einstein, Babbage explicitly wished for his brain’s preservation to advance scientific knowledge.
Before his 1871 death, Babbage penned a letter to his son Henry, stating he had no objection to post‑mortem removal so long as the organ served humanity’s intellectual progress. He instructed that his brain be disposed of in a manner most conducive to the advancement of human knowledge.
Consequently, his cerebral matter was divided, with each half displayed in a distinct institution, honoring his own wishes for scholarly benefit.
4 Napoleon Bonaparte’s Penis
Following his defeat at Waterloo, exile to St. Helena, and mysterious death in 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte’s autopsy revealed a diminutive penis—measured at a modest 3.8 cm (1.5 in). Dr. Francesco Autommarchi, the physician conducting the autopsy, removed the organ in the presence of seventeen witnesses, subsequently handing it to Abbe Anges Paul Vignali, the priest who administered Napoleon’s last rites.
The penis entered the antiquarian market in 1924, purchased by a collector and later sold to a Philadelphia buyer. By 1927, it was on display at the Museum of French Art in New York. A Time magazine correspondent described it disparagingly as “a maltreated strip of buckskin shoelace.” In 1977, auctioneer John J. Lattimer acquired it, and the artifact has remained with the Lattimer family ever since.
Thus, Napoleon’s modest member continues its post‑mortem journey across continents.
3 Chief Mkwawa’s Skull
Chief Mkwavinyika Munyigumba Mwamuyinga, known as Chief Mkwawa, fiercely resisted German colonization of Tanzania’s Hehe lands in the late 19th century. After a series of rebellions, he ultimately took his own life in 1898 when surrounded by German troops. The Germans, however, seized his skull and shipped it to Berlin.
Following World War I, the 1919 Treaty of Versailles included a clause obligating Germany to return Mkwawa’s skull to the Hehe as a gesture of gratitude for their wartime alliance with Britain. Germany failed to locate the skull, leaving the Hehe empty‑handed. Post‑World II, Governor Sir Edward Twining traced the skull to Bremen’s museum, where among 2,000 specimens, only one bore a bullet wound—presumed to be Mkwawa’s. The skull now resides in the Mkwawa Memorial Museum in Kalenga, Tanzania.
This macabre trophy stands as a testament to colonial conflict and restitution.
2 Sarah Baartman’s Brain And Genitals
Sarah Baartman, born in South Africa’s Eastern Cape in 1789, suffered from steatopygia—a condition causing pronounced fatty deposits on the buttocks—earning her the moniker “Hottentot Venus.” In October 1810, she signed (though illiterate) paperwork that allowed surgeon William Dunlop and employer Hendrik Cesars to ship her to England for exhibition.
Baartman performed across Europe, notably in Paris in 1814, before dying a year later. After her death, naturalist Georges Cuvier dissected her, and her brain, skeleton, and genitals were displayed at the Paris Museum of Man until 1974. Following a request by South African President Nelson Mandela in the mid‑1990s, her remains were repatriated in March 2002 and interred in Hankey, South Africa.
Her story highlights the exploitation and eventual restitution of human remains.
1 Mata Hari’s Skull
Mata Hari, a celebrated early‑20th century spy whose loyalties remain debated, was executed by France on October 15, 1917, accused of espionage for Germany during World I. After her death, her unclaimed remains were sent to a Parisian medical school for anatomical study. There, her head was removed and stored at the Museum of Anatomy, only to mysteriously disappear later.
The disappearance adds another layer of intrigue to an already enigmatic life, leaving her skull’s fate uncertain.
From phallic curiosities to the brains of pioneering thinkers, these ten human specimens prove that history’s most famous figures sometimes end up as museum artifacts—reminding us that the line between legend and anatomy can be surprisingly thin.