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The Yoga Lady, 2005

The primary goal of Body Worlds, according to its creator Dr. Gunther von Hagens, is health education. Von Hagens, who earned his medical degree at the University of Lubeck in Germany, is used to criticism of his exhibitions of whole-body plastinates - skinless corpses preserved with a special polymer and posed as if they were engaged in everyday activity. The shows have attracted some 25 million visitors globally - more than any other traveling exhibition - since the first one in 1995. See the companion article. The images are courtesy of Body Worlds.