The Giant Heart exhibit, originally called the "Engine of Life" exhibit, is one of the most popular and notable exhibits at the Franklin Institute. [1] Built in 1953, the exhibit is roughly two stories tall and 35-feet in diameter. A walk-through exhibit, visitors can explore the different areas of the heart. [2]
Visiting The Giant Heart has become a tradition or "right of passage" for many school-aged children, particularly on field trips, in the Philadelphia-area.
The original idea for the walk-through heart exhibit came from Dr. Mildred Pfeiffer, a physician and Director of Cardiovascular Diseases at the Pennsylvania Department of Health who would travel giving lectures about the heart and heart health; she proposed the idea of the heart in an effort to have a centralized resource that people could visit and learn of the heart. [3] [4] The original materials used to construct the heart were papier-mâché, chicken wire and lumber.
The Giant Heart was supposed to have only been on display for six months. [5] It was the idea of physician Mildred Pfeiffer, who designed The Giant Heart with a medical illustrator and engineer. [5] It was originally made out of wood, chicken wire and papier-mâché. [5] However, The Giant Heart became a popular attraction and the Franklin Institute opted to keep it. More than 70 years later, it remains one of the most visited exhibits at The Franklin Institute. [5]
The Giant Heart is 100 times larger than the average human heart. [5] As visitors walk-through The Giant Heart there is signage pointing out which part of the "heart" they are walking past. [5]
The deeper visitors walk deeper into the heart, the sound of a heartbeat gets louder and louder. [5] The sound of the heartbeat was originally computer generated, but as part of the 2019 renovations, it was replaced by the sound of a real human heartbeat. [5]
Stephanie Farr writing in The Philadelphia Inquirer said that The Giant Heart has a "universally recognized-but-hard-to-define odor." [5]
Located next to The Giant Heart is the Bio-science exhibit, which aims to teaching and sparking interest among visitors in the science of the human body.
In 1979, The Giant Heart was rebuilt with fiberglass. [5] The Giant Heart was remodeled and updated in 2004 and 2019. [6]
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