From Relics to Research Pieces: Famous Preserved Body Parts

Einstein’s brain. Chopin’s heart and Beethoven’s skull. The right hand of St. John the Baptist (used to baptize Jesus) and finger bones of the apostle known as Doubting Thomas (with which he prodded the wounds in Christ’s side). There are also many thousands of bodily relics from saints of the Catholic Church, preserved and displayed. These include entire heads and organs or in bits, all of which you can actually visit in person, should you feel compelled to do so.

And there are many others, from other historical figures of all types. Such preservation as a practice is essentially a global and historical trend.

We just can’t let them rest in peace

Why is it done? In the case of relics from saints, the Catholic Church has its own formal statements. Other purposes may be educational, macabre, or even criminal.

In any case the practice is long-standing; throughout history remains of the dead have been kept and displayed for purposes of reverence, notoriety, or study and sometimes even include nearly-intact corpses.

Some anatomical souvenirs are preserved for posterity and even recognizably valid reasoning (brain of a gifted thinker, the literal heart of a great musical artist). In Einstein’s case, it appears the motivation was of a personal nature — his brain was literally stolen during autopsy by another man of science who shared his Jewish heritage and wished to protect Einstein’s dignity (though his most famous organ was reportedly stored in a cookie jar for 40 years; apparently “dignity” is also relative. It was distributed in slices on hundreds of slides). And Chopin’s heart was removed at his own request — that his heart be returned to and interred in Poland, a wish that was honored after his death. His heart famously lies within one of the pillars of a church in Warsaw.

The right hand of John the Baptist is claimed by an Orthodox Church in Montenegro and guarded by monks alongside the finger bones of St. Peter — proper relics which draw visitors from all corners of the earth. Additional pieces of various sainted religious number in the thousands and may be permanent displays in churches the world over. Their framed presentation containers are known as reliquaries. Sometimes multiple relics are displayed together in lipsanotheca.

People venerate the relics saints for purposes of practicing their faith, prayerful proximity to holiness, and as a form of enhancing worship within their belief system. And in cases such as Chopin’s, Beethoven’s, and Einstein’s, the underpinnings of purpose may be more similar than different.

Methods of preservation

How it’s done varies, from period to period and country to county. Somewhat the usual (formalin, extreme embalming, mummification, standard decomposition). In the case of Beethoven’s skull, factual details are scarce. Skull fragments are indeed on display, but were purportedly acquired in a natural state during exhumation (fun fact: Beethoven specifically requested his remains be studied by science).

Literally legendary

Even where details and proof of the nature of the remains are thin, the fascination and attraction around them maintain a powerful, even mystical appeal. It may be that some of these legendary remains are mostly legend. Maybe we need to feel they can’t take their magic away from us completely, as if keeping them partly close can maintain an important link.