St Bartholomew's Hospital museum

Picture of entrance to St Bartholomew's museum

St Bartholomew's Hospital Museum tells the story of nine centuries of healthcare at the edge of the City of London. The Museum is currently closed for the duration of building works to the North Wing, for the  safety and security of visitors and collections. Works to the historic North Wing are taking place as part of the part of the Restoring Historic Barts project led by Barts Heritage. Objects and records from our collections, including those formerly on display, are accessible for research at Barts Health NHS Trust Archives. You can search our catalogue online to identify objects of interest and contact us to make an appointment. Find out more about booking appointments here.

We hope to reopen the museum to visitors in 2025. Works to update and improve the museum are expected to take place in the second phase of works, following completion of the most essential restoration works to the exterior and the main public spaces of the building during this first phase of the project. For more information about the Restoring and Sharing Historic Barts programmes, please see the Barts Heritage website. 

Please note, St Bartholomew's Hospital Museum does not hold specimens. Barts Pathology Museum, also on the hospital site, is part of Barts and The London Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, and is not normally open to the public.

Support St Bartholomew's Hospital Museum

Although the museum is currently closed, Barts Health NHS Trust Archives continues to work to preserve and make available our historic collections. Please consider supporting our work -  click here to donate.

Historic Smithfield and Farringdon

The Norman priory church founded by Rahere, now known as St Bartholomew the Great, is only a few minutes walk from the museum, and the hospital church, St Bartholomew the Less, neighbours the North Wing on the hospital site. Both beautiful churches are open to visitors and worshippers.

Guided walks of the local area led by qualified City Guides take place on a weekly basis, exploring the amazing 900-year story of  St Bartholomew’s Hospital and its surrounding area as well as some of the other fascinating medical stories of the City. Meeting at the Henry VIII  gate outside St Bartholomew’s Hospital the walk will  take in the churches of the hospital, its amazing range of architecture ancient and modern and tell stories of body snatchers, heroic and pioneering medics. The walks run on Fridays at 2.00pm and will finish close to Farringdon Station. For more information, and to book, visit Eventbrite.

You can also use the Geotourist app for a self-guided tour of the local area, with the Historic Farringdon walk, part of the Epic England GPS guided walk series. The walk will take you to key sites in this historic neighbourhood, including the Barbican, Smithfield Market, and the Charterhouse, as well as the hospital itself.