by Nicole Falconi
Project: Emmy Noether Gruppe (DFG): Anatomische Theater der frühen Neuzeit zwischen Kunst, Natur und Wissenschaft
Many renowned physicians and surgeons of the 16th and 17th centuries received their training in Valencia. Fragmentary evidence of dissection rooms suggests early efforts to improve surgical and anatomical education, making the city a particularly compelling site to explore as part of the project.
As in many Spanish cities, anatomical practice in Valencia was also closely tied to the city’s Hospital General — to the architectural spaces within its enclosure and, by extension, to the numerous renovations the hospital underwent over the centuries, until most of its buildings were demolished in the 1960s. Thanks to some promising documents found in the archives, it was possible to study and trace back the historical presence of an Anatomical Theatre within the complex during the 18th and 19th centuries.
An interesting finding was a doorway lintel near the former hospital, bearing the inscription “R[ea]l ACADEMIA DE ZIRVGIA D[e]l R[ea]l HOSPITAL G[enera]l DE VALENCIA,” a clear reference to the institutional connection between surgical training and the hospital itself.
