The Medical Museum
Exploring, understanding and treating the body has always been the job of medicine. At Medical Museion we explore what medicine means for our lives – in the past, present and future.
Medical Museion is a museum for everyone who has a body and is curious about how it is has been understood and treated, from Antiquity to Genetics.
Exhibitions at Medical Museion draw on the museum’s vast collection of historical objects. However, you can also encounter cutting edge medical research and practice. The exhibitions take you on a journey through the world of medicine from historical understandings of our bodies to current challenges in public health such as obesity. The Body Collected (opened in 2015) lays out how medicine has collected the human body for research and teaching throughout history, running up to the present day.
Guests are invited to join one of our guided tours (included in admission price) for a general introduction to the exhibitions, however, we also encourage you to explore the museum on your own. Do make sure to check out the museum’s calendar for special events, including Evening Consultations.
Medical Museion is a university museum where scholars do research in science communication and medical humanities, often based in or contributing to the exhibitions. Many of the museum’s activities are experimental – both in format and content. Examples include the open collection room for Psychiatry, and the contemporary research focus of Room for Ageing.
The Royal Surgical Academy
Medical Museion is based in the buildings of the old Surgical Academy from 1787. Traces of the past are still evident in the exhibition rooms. At the centre of the museum is the anatomical theatre in which generations of medical student witnessed dissections of corpses and learned about anatomy. The anatomical theatre is still used for public lectures, doctoral defences and teaching. Medical Museion also hosts concerts, performance art and theatre in its historical surroundings, and arranges public events based on the exhibitions.