The City of Brno, the Brno City Cemetery Administration, the Masaryk University Faculty of Medicine, and the faculty’s Medical Students Association have announced a collaborative effort to establish a memorial for those who have donated their bodies for educational and research purposes, to be located at Brno’s Central Cemetery (“Ústřední hřbitov”).
According to the Deputy Mayor of Brno, Jaroslav Suchý, the City of Brno has agreed to rent a space at the cemetery to the Faculty of Medicine, intended for the dignified burial of bodies donated to science, for a symbolic price of one crown for 10 years.
MED MUNI student representatives underlined the debt that medical students owe to those who donate their bodies to science: “We strive to one day become general practitioners, surgeons, neurologists or orthopedists, but whatever our specialisation will be in the future, the common basis of our studies is anatomy,” they said.
The MUNI Faculty of Medicine, in cooperation with the faculty’s Medical Association, will manage the reconstruction of the grave equipment, including the monument-protected tombstone. “We hope that we will succeed in creating a dignified space that the relatives of the deceased, as well as medics, doctors and the entire public, will have a chance to visit,” explained Marek Joukal, head of the Anatomy Institute at MUNI Faculty of Medicine.
“The grave chosen for this purpose still has to go through complete construction and restoration work,” said Alena Říhová, director of the Brno City Cemetery Administration. “In order to store the ashes, it is necessary to build an underground part that has the parameters of a normal tomb.”
The Faculty of Medicine is organising a public fundraiser to build the memorial. It is possible to contribute to the transparent account number 2901871435/2010.
