[Knowledge of the human body. At the 450th anniversary of the first edition of Andreas Vesalius' life work. "De Humani Coporis Fabrica Libri Septem"].

As an introduction to the symposium we pay attention successively: firstly, to the "Magister divinus", to Andreas Vesalius' personality, according to the testimony of his pupil Fallopius; secondly, to his ingenious lifework, the "De Humani Corporis Fabrica", according to the opinion of Sir William Osler, "the greatest medical book ever written", finally, to the historical evolution leading to the Vesalian way of thinking and working. All this proves that Vesalius' work is a fundamental turning point in the development of medicine as well as in the evolution of scientific practice in a general sense. It is also one of the highlights in the construction of mankind's intellectual patrimony.