The permanent exhibition is the treasure house of the museum, with magificent volumes and rarities from the early modern period (1480–1800). Through scientific appraisal and digital implementation, a visit to the treasure house becomes a fascinating journey of discovery into the past.
An interactive touch screen that brings the old books to new life can be found for each book. Authors are introduced in plain language, light is thrown on the historical environment, and the significance of the work is explained. The digital implementation makes it possible to leaf through the valuable editions.
The first subject area of "body images" deals with anatomical and artistic representations of the human body and its change. The second subject area of "knowledge of nature" grapples with the tension between religious and natural history models of the explanation of nature. The third subject area of "medical practice" focuses on health-related writings in the areas of surgery, obstetrics, pharmacology and dietetics.
A medical library that could have been found in the practice of a learned German-speaking physician around 1800 presents the accumulated knowledge of the Renaissance through the Baroque and into the Age of the Enlightenment.