[The German Orthopedic History and Research Museum. A museum for research and public health]

The German historical museum of orthopaedic surgery was founded 1959 in Würzburg. The main task of this institution is the furtherance of science in medical-history. Since the beginning, 41 years ago, the number of books and exhibits increased continuously. The library of the museum is the biggest public collection in Germany and contains more then 6000 books and publications in orthopaedics. Furthermore the museum includes a big amount of exoprostheses of the upper and lower limb, alloarthroplasties of hip- and knee-joints, traumatologic implants and instruments of orthopaedic surgery. A big number of bone-preparations with pathologic alterations and variations will also be presented. The exhibition and the library is open to the public and is available to those people in the history of orthopaedic surgery. Local requirements in Würzburg were one of the reasons to transfer the place of the museum to Frankfurt/Main. The museum was reopened at 6th of June 1998 at the university of Frankfurt/Main, department of orthopaedic surgery.