PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - When you walk into the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, bones get your attention.

One wall is filled with a sculpture of skeletons. Then, as you turn the corner into the gallery, it appears as if a giant is smiling at you or looking at you through a huge eye ball.

These pieces are among the rare sculptures, paintings and artifacts at PAFA’s current exhibit called Anatomy/Academy the Philadelphia Nexus of Art and Science which runs through April 17th at the Academy, located at 118-128 N. Broad Street Philadelphia.

“What is really unique about Philadelphia is this intersection of art and medical science,” said Anna Marley, curator of Historical American Art. “Those two worlds came together through the study of the human body.”

Marley was fascinated when she first saw the large scale anatomical sculptures loaned to the academy by the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. It was created by artist William Rush for Dr. Casper Wistar’s classes on anatomy, a quadrant of the mouth with its teeth, and the complex internal mechanism of the ear had to be large enough to be seen by medical students in a giant amphitheater.

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“Rush created these large scale body parts made of leather, papier mache and carved wood,” said Marley. “ You can actually take apart many of the objects, so a medical student can learn how the parts work.”

The exhibit turns on its centerpiece, filling a back wall. It’s Thomas Eakins’ masterpiece, The Gross Clinic, is returning to PAFA with this exhibition.

Marley says museums don’t always have shows that include interesting bits like Samuel Gross’ scalpel, medical guide books for treating soldiers in the field or tickets that permitted students into Dr. Wistar’s anatomy classes.

The collection and the story it tells covers nearly 200 years of art and medical science in Philadelphia.

Anatomy Academy at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is opened until April 17th.

For more information, visit http://PAFA.org.

Reported by Pat Ciarrocchi, CBS 3