Abstract When the Department of Pathology of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in The Netherlands moved from its old to its new premises, the demolition of the marble post‐mortem tables was impending, taking with it the Department's (physical) memory. To keep the importance of this memory and of the post‐mortem itself on everyone's minds in the new building, the artist Piet Hein Eek was invited to incorporate these post‐mortem tables into a work of art. This became a triptych: the three post‐mortem tables were stood upright against the wall behind a mounted double sheet of glass, containing screen prints of enlarged microscopic images. The two emblems of pathology–post‐mortem tables and double glass slides containing specimens–were thus united into a fascinating work of art: a true memento of the post‐mortem, re‐embedded in the contemporary world by its design. Copyright © 2008 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.