There’s an article in today’s NY Times about the 4-ton, 18-foot-tall walk-through papier-mâché heart in Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute. Has anyone else ever seen it? My friends think I’m hallucinating when I tell them about it.
It was the terror of my childhood, the only thing that ever made me claustrophobic. It looks just like a real heart and makes thump-thump sounds, and you squeeze through its tiny aortas and ventricles—it’s really terrifying.
Anyway, I see in the Times that, after 47 years, it is undergoing some kind of bypass surgery (I’m sure both it and Wally will be fine!).
Sorry, Eve. I don’t ever remember seeing the giant heart, but maybe that’s because I haven’t been to Philly since about 1973. Anyway, here’s a couple links to some more info. Sorry I wasn’t able to find any photo links.
“The Science Center features outstanding exhibits on a variety of great topics. All exhibits invite participation – a tradition pioneered by the Franklin Institute. Bioscience features a Walk-Through Heart and the tools of the medical and biological sciences.”
And here’s a link to a dollar off coupon for the Franklin Institute’s Heart exhibit.
I grew up with a Giant Heart, too, in the Health Museum in Cleveland.
The Museum was devoted to the human body…many large plastic body parts, diseased lungs under glass, embyros and fetuses in jars, and a huge plaster walk-though Heart (complete with pulsing lights and piped-in THROOMing).
It never scared me much. Being able to leave public school for a field trip was such heaven that an excursion to the Town Dump would have been welcome.
I loved the giant heart! My class would go to it about once a year or so. I’m not sure where our heart was located, and Philly seems too far away. Maybe there is one in NYC? The weird part is I was just telling my husband the other day about the giant heart, and I don’t think he believed me
“Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.”
– Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective
It’s reported that Philly’s heart needs repair just weeks after Philly is voted the fattest city in the country by Men’s Health magazine.
Coincidence? I think not!
You are not hallucinating, Eve. I too remember the giant heart at the Franklin from my childhood. It never frightened me, but it was disconcerting, especially when you could hear the “thump-thump” from way down the hall before you could actually see the heart itself.
I think the giant heart in the Franklin Institute must have scared lots of kids, because the thing I remember most about our class trips through the heart was the strong smell of frightened urine.
Isn’t there a walk-through giant lung somewhere courtesy of the American Lung Association? I recall reading about it in the travel section of the paper years ago.
The giant heart is in the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and it’s made out of fiberglass, not papier mache. The FI kept the heart, even after the big renovation/expansion back in 1991, because it was such an old-time favorite. They got rid of the airplane, though.
It has been there since at least 1961, when I visited it for the first time. To this (then) child, the sound was awesome and running through the chambers was a thrill a minute. I have very fond memories of the heart, as well as many other participative exhibits. The Franklin Institute Science Museum (http://sln.fi.edu/) is much more fun for young inquisitive minds than the standard ‘stuff-behind-glass’ places.
Chuck L.
“The intellectuals’ chief cause of anguish are one another’s works.”
Jacques Barzun
Cheers! CAL
BodyWorks (Tess and Walt)
Visitors meet Tess, a 50 foot, partially reclining, anatomically correct transparent test dummy that was developed to help demonstrate homeostasis (how the organs work together to keep the body in balance). Animatronics, animation and special effects bring the Body Works show to life as Tess and Walt, her cartoon sidekick, explore how the body’s organs work together to keep everything in balance during a soccer game.
Being Philadelphia born, raised and still residing, I am proud to say that I have visited the Franklin Institute, and that heart, quite a few times. First of all, the FI is by and far one of the best hands-on science museums on the east coast, and a must-see for any visitor, especially with children. (They also have the only IMAX theatre in Philadelphia.) And the heart, well, speaks for itself.
Funny story - a friend who moved to Chicago came home with his lover, so a bunch of us decided to take him to the FI. One of us is, shall we say, rather rotund, and while going through the heart, the lover, not knowing that the nature of the fiberglass the heart is made from and the way the tunnels are laid out make everything you say ECHO for the whole place to hear, tried to whisper, “You think Steve will get stuck in here?” A moment of stunned silence was followed by ten minutes of hysterical laughter (including by Steve himself). “Hey, Steve - you be cholesterol!” Much fun was had by all…
Esprix
Next time I want your opinion I’ll beat it out of you.
