The beginning of scientific pathology at the Charité started in 1831 with the establishing of a dissection house. After the appointment of Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902) as professor of Pathological Anatomy at the Charité in 1856, the first pathological institute of Germany was founded. The Institute of Pathology of the Charité is still in the building which had been built to Virchow’s specification and was finished in 1906 and now bears the name of its founder, “Rudolf-Virchow-Haus”.

The collection of pathological specimens initiated by Virchow is part of the exhibition at the Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum.

In 1999, the fundamental restoration of the building complex began, orientated to the requirements of modern microscopic and molecular pathological diagnostics and research.