The Vienna collection of endoscopic instruments
Bozzini’s Lichtleiter holds an honoured place in the Endoscopy Museum of the International Nitze-Leiter Research Society of Endoscopy. Vienna is the city, where Maximilian Nitze (1848-1906) from Dresden and the Viennese instrument maker Joseph Leiter (1830-1892) developed the first viable cystoscope. The Museum and the Research Society were named after these two personalities. More than 2000 instruments as well as accessories cover the specialities urology, gastroenterology, esophagoscopy, coloscopy, bronchoscopy, oto-rhino-laryngology, ophthalmology as well as laparoscopy. In two specifically adapted rooms in the Josephinum (the building of the former Joseph’s Academy partly belongs to the Medical University of Vienna today) these instruments illustrate the development of endoscopy over a period of more than 200 years.
The International Nitze-Leiter Research Society of Endoscopy, with its administrative seat also in the Josephinum not only is attending to the upkeep of the museum and expansion of its scientific collection, it has pledged to undertake research into the history of endoscopy, holding scientific meetings, organizing exhibitions in cooperation with scientific associations like EAU and DGU and publishing relevant research findings.
