The anatomical collection of the Academic Medical Center and the University of Amsterdam was founded by Gerardus Vrolik (1775–1859) and his son Willem Vrolik (1801–1863). They both were professors of anatomy at the Athenaeum Illustre, the predecessor of the University of Amsterdam . During their careers they had built a private collection of over two thousand specimens of humans, mammals, and other vertebrates. This private collection, which comprised body parts, fetuses, skeletons, and plaster molds and casts, showed various aspects of human and animal anatomy, embryology, pathology, and congenital anomalies and was named Museum Vrolikianum. Willem Vrolik also acquired about 60 human specimens from the collection of J. Baart de la Faille, a Dutch professor of anatomy at the University of Groningen . The organic materials were either dried or fixed in ethanol 70% and often refixed in formaldehyde 4% in later years. After Willem Vrolik had died, this private collection was purchased in 1869 by a citizen’s committee and donated to the Department of Anatomy of the Athenaeum Illustre. The collection grew over the years by acquisition of the Baart de la Faille collection of congenital anomalies, the Hovius collection of bone pathology, the Bolk-Woerdeman collection of anatomy and congenital anomalies, and the Grevers collection of dental pathology, all named after their original collector. The last addition was made in 1984, when the former ‘‘Wilhelmina Gas thuis’’ Hospital (WG) donated a collection of specimens with urogenital pathology and congenital anomalies.
Willem Vrolik (1801-1863) was one of the pioneers in the field of “teratology”, as this discipline was named by his French contemporary Isidore Geoffroy St Hiliare. Inspired by his father Gerard Vrolik ( 1775-1859), Willem, at the age of 16, commenced his academic career at the Athenaeum Illustre, the predecessor of the University of Amsterdam . During his education he was attracted to what would become the two main topics of his scientific research, on which he wrote many papers and several books: comparative zoology and teratology. The private collection of anatomical, zoological and botanic specimens, initiated by Gerard in 1795, grew steadily to a size of more than 5000 items and acquired an academic status thanks to Willem’s input. The greater part of this collection is still present in Museum Vrolik in Amsterdam , including most of the 500 teratological specimens. In 1829, when Willem was appointed professor of anatomy and physiology at the University of Groningen , he became intrigued with the teratological specimens in the collection of the famous physician Petrus Camper. He returned to Amsterdam in 1831, where he became professor of anatomy, physiology and natural history and remained to be so for the rest of his career. His growing experience in teratology culminated in three extensive essays, on cyclopia (1834), on the pathogenesis of congenital anomalies (1838), and on conjoined twins (1840), which formed the overture for his magnum opus on teratology titled “Handboek der ziektekundige ontleedkunde” (Handbook of pathological anatomy; 1842, 1844) and for the “Tabulae ad illustrandam embryogenesin hominis et mammalium tam naturalem quam abnormem” (1844-1849). 
The Tabulae form a collection of 100 lithographic plates depicting the outlines of vertebrate embryology and a large selection of congenital anomalies in man and various animal species. These lithographs, together with descriptions in Latin and Dutch appeared in separate issues between 1844 and 1849. The Tabulae were meant as a supplement to the non-illustrated Handbook and to make his work accessible to non-Dutch scientists. The large number of subscriptions for this book reflected its scientific importance and Willem Vrolik’s international standing as a teratologist. In 1850 a prize was awarded to the Tabulae by the French Academy of Science. In 2004, this work was re-issued by the Greenwood Genetic Center , Greenwood, South Carolina , as a facsimile comprising the lithographs, the Latin text and an English translation.
The collections of Museum Vrolik, particularly the congenital anomalies, are not only of historical and didactical interest but they also have a distinct scientific value. With the recent ascent of developmental biology, studying the morphology of these specimens, either by physical examination or with the use of modern imaging techniques, sheds new lights on normal and abnormal vertebrate embryology, especially when combined with the output of molecular research on the conditions at hand.
