Anatomist creates cadaver crucifix

Controversial anatomist Gunther von Hagens, is set to reveal his latest exhibit – a crucifix.

Von Hagens invented the technique of “plastination”, for preserving human bodies with their muscles, veins and bones on display, at the University of Heidelberg in the 1970s.

His exhibits, featuring hundreds of cadavers from babies to the elderly in life-like poses, have toured the globe.

His latest piece, which has been six years in the planning, was created by injecting liquid plastic into bones and blood vessels from a number of donors’ bodies, which then hardened to create casts.

The resulting figure, which does not contain any human tissue, was then mounted on a wooden cross.

The crucifix will be revealed in a Channel 4 documentary, Crucifixation, on Easter Sunday.