The Leper Hospital
Winchester
25 March 2001

Victor's head

Leprosy is a bacterial disease that affects the peripheral nervous system, deadening the nerve endings so that sufferers are prone to damaging soft tissue without realising it. This tissue gets infected and as the infection spreads it damages the bone. The effects of leprosy show most clearly on the hands and feet, which shrivel and close up, and the face.

Time Team illustrator Victor Ambrus is also an accomplished sculptor. He used the skull of a leprosy sufferer found on another leper hospital site to reconstruct what the person would have looked like in life. As well as boils and pustules on his face, the man's nasal and other face bones would have been eaten away by infection, causing his nose and face to collapse and his teeth to drop out.

These two object movies allow you to examine Victor's sculpture from all sides and angles, zooming in or out as you wish.

If you don't already have it installed on your computer, you will need a simple free QuickTime download from www.apple.com/quicktime to run these VRs. The minimum version required is 3, although 5 is better. Once installed, clicking on any of the links below should start the VR after a short downloading delay.

Victor's head 1: Victor's sculpture (hooded)

Victor's head 2: Victor's sculpture (unhooded)

Victor's head 3: Victor sculpting in the incident room.

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