Body Worlds to showcases a 'ride' beyond lifetime in NYC

The creator of Body Worlds, which is an international exhibition of preserved human bodies that reveal inner anatomical structures, is all set to bring his famed 'The Rearing Horse With Rider' to New York's Times Square for its first free public outdoor display on Wednesday.

For Dr. Gunther von Hagens, the beauty of the human body is far beyond skin deep, the New York Daily News reported.

Von Hagens told the publication that the work of an entire life in science- the recklessness and conviction, the experimentation and failure and every known human flaw and folly- is often embodied and crystalized in a single unit of invention.

He said that his creation holds the breadth of his 35-year career as an anatomist.

Von Hagens, who relies solely on donated specimens, spent three years creating the 12-foot tall horse-and-rider statue through a plastination process.

The horse and rider were created when a journalist who covered the Body Worlds exhibit in Europe became terminally ill and decided to donate his body, requesting to be preserved in a striking pose once he passed.