Artists and sculptors discover the beauty of the human body. Their works are attractive, wonderful, perfect. But what to do to those people who not only do not meet recognized standards of beauty, but are also so ugly in appearance that they are scared to look at? Anomalies of the human body are terrifying, and at the same time attract. That is why the thematic exhibition of the St. Petersburg Wax Museum is very popular among viewers.
Kunstkamera and anomalies of the human body
In Russia, as you know, the first "cabinet of rarities", or simply put to the Kunstkamera, was opened by Peter I. It is this museum that can be considered the first exhibition to show a wide range of spectators human mutations and anomalies. The anatomical section of the Kunstkamera has become perhaps the most famous, because in it visitors could see not only a two-headed lamb, which in itself is already interesting, but also human babies fused with bodies. In addition, there was a Cyclops child, a baby with a mermaid tail, and children who died immediately after birth with terribly mutilated heads.
Peter I was very interested in the anomalies of the human body and the reasons why all sorts of deformities arise. The emperor conducted conversations with foreign anatomists, marveled at their stories and exhibits preserved for many years in transparent vessels, through the purchase of which he replenished the collection of his Kunstkamera. And Peter the Great ordered wax copies of those rare freaks, which for various reasons could not get. And it was thanks to Peter that the art of creating wax figures came to Russia.
After the revolution, this craft was forgotten for a long time, and only at the end of the 20th century the craftsmen from the city of Lomonosov, near St. Petersburg, revived the art of creating realistic human figures from wax.
Wax Museums
The most famous wax exhibition is Madame Tussauds. The expositions are working all over the world and in some of them there are “horror cabinets” in which the figures of real maniacs and killers are presented.
In Russia, the most famous wax museum in St. Petersburg. It is just about him that we will discuss later, because the exhibition "Russian Panopticon: catastrophes of the human body" is especially interesting to us.
What will surprise the Russian Panopticon
This exhibition is really both surprising and frightening and confusing. The thing is that her exhibits are wax figures of people with real mutations and deviations. The anomalies of the human body from the Guinness Book of Records, embodied by masters and sculptors, are also represented here.
The figures are realistic. These are the same people, only motionless, with a gaze fixed on one far point. But the anatomical structure of these wax people is always unusual. Let's talk about the characters present at the exhibition and their pathologies in more detail.
Abnormal growth
No matter how amazing it may sound, the tallest man in the world is considered to be Chinese Bao Xishun, whose height is 2.36 m. His parents are ordinary people: his father was 1.8 m tall, and his mother was 1.6 m tall. They are now they don’t fully understand why their son was so “lucky."
Because of its growth, Bao Xishun could not find a life partner for a long time. He only married at 56, and his chosen one was 70 cm lower than him. Recently, a couple had a son, his height and weight so far correspond to the age norm.
Bao Xishun is listed in the Book of Records, and his figure, made of wax, is present in the Museum of St. Petersburg. Next to her is the figure of the smallest woman, Pauline Masters, or Princess Pauline, as friends and relatives called her.
By the age of 18, the girl grew to 58 cm, her weight was 15 kg. She worked in a circus, where she showed the audience solo dance and acrobatic performances. The audience was fascinated by the girl: in the arena, she looked as if her small growth did not interfere with her, and the grace that filled Pauline's performances was truly surprising. The girl was a real fashionista and had beautiful magnificent forms. They say she had no end to fans. But her star rolled up very early, Pauline died at the age of 19 from pneumonia.
Buster Simkus: Outstanding Weight
The fattest man in the world weighed over a ton and was originally from Texas. His motto was a simple phrase - live to eat. Every day, Baster’s morning began with 40 pancakes and a liter of jam, and then the man went on to a couple of dozen meat steaks with a vegetable side dish and his favorite sweets. He ate all day, as the absorption of food became his main occupation. And he could afford to live like this, because from parents Baster Simkus inherited a good legacy.
In 2005, the fattest man in the world died. He was only 40 years old.
The famous four-eyed card sharpie and the Cyclops man
Many abnormalities of the human body are associated with an increase or decrease in the number of organs. And the organs of vision are no exception.
So, John Stalker was known as the Four-eyed sharpie. He really had four eyes and made a living by playing a card game. The organs of vision were located in pairs in pairs above each other. Interestingly, Stalker could look in several directions at once.
The black-man Cyclops Carlos Sieira had one eye, located directly above the bridge of the nose. The place where the eyes are usually located on his face was simply tightened by his skin. The man had no vision problems, and one of his eyes was well seen. Carlos led a secluded life, he was repeatedly offered to act in films, but the Cyclops man did not give his consent. He lived for 32 years.
Pig Woman and Mule Woman
Do you remember the American comedy about the enchanted girl Penelope? So, this heroine had a real prototype - Miraida Portland. She was born in Holland to completely normal parents and had a pigskin patch instead of a nose. Miraida’s mother and father were rich and were able to give their daughter a good upbringing and education. The girl got married and even gave birth to two healthy children. This is just the case when the tale of Penelope ended well.
Another woman whose fate was quite happy, despite her ugliness, is mule woman Grace McDanel. Her disease is called Sturge-Weber syndrome and is characterized by abnormal development of blood vessels and mental retardation. But in the case of Grace, there was a violation of the structure of the face, which with this syndrome happened very rarely. A mule woman got married three times, and from her last marriage a normal child was born to her.
Museum keeper and other exhibits
The museum of anomalies of the human body among its exhibits also has one special one - the figure of the human crab Thomas Ignatieff. This man, even during the time of Peter the Great, worked as a living exhibit of the Kunstkamera and received good money for this - 100 rubles a month. Foma was called the crab-man because on his arms and legs were two long fused fingers resembling claws.
The museum has other notable exhibits: a woman with huge silicone breasts, a man without arms and legs, Siamese twins, a bearded woman and a bird man. Also interesting is Edward Mordrake, a musician with a good and evil face.
By the way, there is one legend about Edward. She is described in The Freak Show, the fourth season of the American Horror Story series. According to legend, Mordrake, accompanied by ghostly shadows, takes away sinful, desperate souls. But this happens only once a year, on the night when the dead walk freely on the earth.
You can find out how people with physical disabilities lived in the last century from the film "Freaks" directed by Tod Browning. The tape tells about the everyday life of a freak show, about the love, envy and hardships of everyday life, which fell to the lot of those who, by the will of fate, are different from ordinary people.
Anomalies of the human body are a heartbreaking sight. But some people with physical deformities have lived happy lives. And perhaps many of us have something to learn from them.