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Cat Irving

@anatomicalcat.bsky.social

8.1K followers 810 following 650 posts

Human Remains Conservator at Surgeons’ Hall. Snake charmer. Beagle feeder. All-round general necromancer

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · Nov 17

Hello #bluesky!

What does a human remains conservator do?

I work at Surgeons’ Hall, Edinburgh (and other collections) to ensure human remains are correctly preserved and cared for. I also research the history of dissection and the variety of ways humanity has tried to stop decomposition

A picture of me, a woman in her mid 40s with a lot of red curly hair, in gloves and arm protectors bent over a very large glass jar (contents out of sight)

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 12h

Very much looking forward to chatting to @mollyconisbee.bsky.social about this extraordinary - and beautiful! - book tomorrow for Dissecting the Author at @surgeonshall.bsky.social .This is an online event, and you can join us by getting a ticket here:

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dissecting...

A book called No Ordinary Deaths: A people’s history of mortality by Molly Conisbee. The cover is black with a white funerary urn flanked by two skeletons.

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Reposted by Cat Irving

Surgeons' Hall Museums @surgeonshall.bsky.social · 2d

In 2017, Jessica was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. During a chance visit to the museum she encountered a thyroid with a nodular Goitre. Recently she sat down with our Human Remains Conservator, Cat Irving, to discuss how this visit helped her come to terms with her cancer diagnosis.
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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you🙏

Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 3d

I gave a conference paper in the library directly below the anatomical theatre in Bologna two years ago! That felt pretty special.

Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 3d

I ended up spending longer in Bologna than expected this week, and this was one of the unexpected delights of that extra time. It’s an early sixteenth century tondelli - round stained glass window - showing the Triumph of Death, made in the German regions, and based on an engraving by Albrecht Dürer

a portion of stained glass showing a skeletal figure in a winding sheet flying in the air and holding a scroll

À différent portion of the same stained glass showing a skeletal figure wrapped in a sheet brandishing an arrow and riding into a crowd.

The full round stained glass showing the precocious two figures with Germanic text rubbing around the outside. The colour palette is yellow and brown

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 6d

Revisiting the wonderful models of La Specola today.

A room crowded with 18thC wood and glass cabinets with a red haired woman in a black dress looking happy in the middle

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 7d

My husband’s book cover as a t-shirt! Direct from the British Library!

Daniel Pietersen @pietersender.bsky.social · 7d

*unearthly shrieking intensifies*

TALES OF THE WEIRD MERCH IS GO

@blpublishing.bsky.social @britishlibrary.bsky.social #TalesOfTheWeird

Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 8d

Today I visited the Chiesa dei Morte - the Church of the Dead - in Urbania. I’ll post more about this soon…

Three mummified bodies in wooden cases. The central figure is in religious robes holding a staff with a skull and cross bones and wearing a silver badge with memento mori image

A yellow sign which reads chiesa dei motto sec. XIV

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 16d

Another one of Dr Louis Auzoux’s ‘anatomie clastique’ mannequins - life-sized anatomical statues made from his own special papier-mâché, which can be taken apart to explore the anatomy. I’ve seen many of these, but they always make me happy. This particular one is in the Medical Museum in Brussels

The head and shoulders of an anatomical model with a downcast expression

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 17d

I have indeed been to the Narrenturm! (Though if this photo is to be believed I didn’t open my eyes ;p). The heart is in the collection of the Josephinum, which is a short walk from there.

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 17d

A wax model showing the heart, viewed from behind. It was made in the eighteenth century by Clemente Susini in Florence, and was part of a collection of more than a thousand models shipped to Vienna to be used for teaching at Joseph II’s new academy of military medicine.

A colourful wax heart, viewed from behind.

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 20d

No! Post mortem

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 21d

‘Exquisite Pain’ - Damien Hirst’s take on the flayed figure of St Bartholomew, brandishing a scalpel in homage to those people whose skin had been removed for anatomical study in neighbouring St Bart’s hospital. In the gloriously beautiful Romanesque church of St Bartholomew the Great

A golden flayed figure with skin draped over his arm. The right arm is outstretched holding a scalpel. Dramatic church arches are behind.

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 22d

The trouble is that I am that pedantic and arsey…

Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 22d

Indeed! That would be lovely. And I’ve just realised that autocorrect has stuck an apostrophe in your name, so excuse me while I go and put my hair shirt on…

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Reposted by Cat Irving

HALLOWEIRD @johnnymains.co.uk · 22d

Cat's talks ARE FUCKING AMAZING. She's the most knowledgeable person on death I know. Get tickets and watch her!!

Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 22d

Who wants to hear me talk about the Dance of Death? That’s what I’m going to be doing on Thursday - it’s online, and you can get tickets here:

thelasttuesdaysociety.org/event/will-y...

Four skeletal figures in a landscape with some architectural arches framing it. Each one holds a different instrument

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 22d

Thank you so much! Too kind, Mr Main’s 💀🖤💀🖤💀🖤💀

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 22d

Who wants to hear me talk about the Dance of Death? That’s what I’m going to be doing on Thursday - it’s online, and you can get tickets here:

thelasttuesdaysociety.org/event/will-y...

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 23d

Being back in Bavaria reminded me of this church I visited last time I was there in 2023. The Purgatory Chapel of St Michael’s Church in Untergriesbach has a small collection of skulls, some of which are painted

A stack of skulls with crossed long bones between them. The top skull is painted in old fashioned Germanic script

An alter with a large crucified Christ with a pair of cherubs by his head and two female figures standing each side. There is a round window with baroque decoration behind, with the light glancing through. There is an altar in front with two candles and ivy on a white cloth. Beneath the altar is an arrangement of skulls, including those from the previous photo.

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 24d

Isn’t it?!

Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 24d

That sounds like a visit with a tale behind it!

Reposted by Cat Irving

Evi Numen @evinumen.bsky.social · 26d

It was an absolute honour to give a talk with the fabulous @anatomicalcat.bsky.social in collaboration with the also fabulous @drtrishbiers.bsky.social in a session chaired by none other than the @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social ‘s Dawn Kemp, at #iammc2025!

Photograph of a conference stage, showing the title slide of a talk entitled “Beyond Bentham: Re-examining Ideas of Consent and Body Donation
through Museum Collections in the UK and Ireland” by
Evi Numen (Old Anatomy Museum, Dublin)
Cat Irving (Surgeons’ Hall Museums, Edinburgh)
Trish Biers (The Duckworth Laboratoy, Cambridge)

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 24d

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 24d

Oh, that’s a place I haven’t been in Vienna!

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Cat Irving @anatomicalcat.bsky.social · 24d

I’ve had an amazing week in Ingolstadt for two inspiring conferences with wonderful people. And, of course, the Münster has this amazing transi tomb of Johannes Permetter, showing his corpse consumed by worms. Permetter died in 1505

A wall mounted tomb in a shiny brown stone - possibly a type of marble. It shows a recumbent skeleton (pictured from the waist up) with worms coming out of the eyes and amongst the ribs (which aren’t anatomically correct)

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