‘Macabre curiosities’: top US medical museum confronts skeletons of its past

The Mütter Museum in Philadelphia looks like any other respectable establishment in the United States: a trim brick building with an American flag outside.

But behind its doors lies a remarkable medical collection of the dead, diseased and disfigured that has attracted visitors and tourists for decades but is now at the center of a roiling dispute over the ethics of such exhibits in the 21st century.

In common with many other leading art institutions and museums across the US – and the rest of the world – the Mütter is plagued by questions around the provenance and rights of acquisition of its collection of the grotesque.

Earlier this year, the Mütter took down its collection from its website