Crowds flock to see corpse show

Gallery: Corpse close-ups

More than one and a half million visitors paying £10 a head are expected at a shocking new exhibition in London featuring 25 skinned corpses.

Organisers of the Body Worlds exhibition at the Atlantis Gallery made the prediction as journalists were given the first chance to see the show in the flesh.

"If Body Worlds proves to be as popular in London as it has been in other cities across Europe we can expect one and a half million people coming through the doors," said a spokesman today.

With over eight million visitors since it first opened in Germany in 1997 it is already the world's most popular touring exhibition. The macabre collection of corpses posed to display anatomical functions is the brainchild of German Professor Gunther Von Hagens, 58.

All exhibits have been subjected to 'plastination' a process he invented, that replaces organ fluids with polymers and results in near perfect preservation.

Somewhat gingerly, the first people to see the show in London examined exhibits including a body sliced from head to toe into five sections. Other exhibits include a man holding his entire skin in his hands, a man with his brain exposed contemplating a chess board and a man on a horse holding his brain in one hand and the horse's in another Many exhibits are comparisons of diseased organs - such as cancerous lungs - with healthy specimens to show the effects of the illness.

Two police officers were at the private view to control a rumoured demonstration but no protesters arrived. These were expected to be outraged relatives of children whose organs were illicitly removed in the Alderhey scandal and who had asked the Government to stop Body Worlds from opening. Their bid failed after the Department of Health concluded it breaks no laws.

Professor Von Hagens had invited the Alder Hey victims' families to Body Worlds saying: "I sympathise with the Alder Hey relatives. "But I would like them to come to my exhibition and see it for themselves."

Meanwhile, wandering among the uncanny exhibits the officers were distinctly unshocked.

"We see a lot of horrible sights in our job, especially when you have to deal with bodies on train tracks so this doesn't seem particularly gory," said Pc Rosie Molen.

Comment: Moved by mother and child

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Body Worlds Exhibition
March 23 - Sept 29
9am - 9pm
Tickets: £10 (£8)
Atlantis Gallery at the Old Truman Brewery
146 Brick Lane
London E1 6QL
Nearest Tube: Liverpool Street
Info line: 020 7053 0000
www.bodyworlds.com