The International Hygiene Exhibition was a world´s fair focusing on medicine and public health, held in Dresden, Germany, in 1911.
The leading figure organizing the exhibition was German philanthropist and businessman Karl August Lingner [de], who had grown wealthy from his Odol mouthwash brand, and was enthusiastic to educate the public about advances in public health. Lingner had previously organized a public-health exhibition as part of the 1903 Dresden municipal expo, and its success led him to plan a larger endeavor.
The exhibition opened on May 6, 1911, with 30 countries participating, 100 buildings built for the event, and 5 million visitors over its duration. It emphasized accessible visual representations of the body, and a particular sensation were the transparent organs preserved and displayed according to a method devised by Werner Spalteholz.
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