The history of anatomy teaching in Lyon University: in the footsteps of Rabelais, Petit, Lisfranc, Testut and Latarjet, and many others

Anatomy and Lyon have a very long history together since the first hospital in France was set up on the banks of the Saône River in the fourteenth century. The Lyon school of Anatomy was originally in the Hôtel-Dieu, which later housed the “secondary” (1821) then “preparatory” (1841) schools. Only in 1877 was the Medicine and Pharmacy Faculty set up. The development of anatomy teaching followed the rise of printing in the fifteenth century. The rise of surgery was founded on knowledge of anatomy and the ability to teach it. Before the days of anesthesia, surgery required perfect anatomical skills, to keep operative time to a minimum. Correlation with anatomy accompanied the introduction of radiology and later of medical imaging in general; the science of Anatomy is nowadays enriched by robotics and information technology.