The Royal London Hospital museum
The former Royal London Hospital Museum display space in Whitechapel is now closed. The decision was taken not to reopen the space after an extensive review of several longstanding issues with the basement museum space, which is not owned by Bart Health NHS Trust, and discussion with key stakeholders. The space will be reintegrated with the library which occupies the rest of the former church building, to provide new study areas for medical and dental students.
Objects from the museum collections, including the majority of the objects 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. You can find out more about booking appointments here.
Our collections are housed in specialist stores to ensure their long-term preservation and catalogued online; we are currently working to enhance the object descriptions and photographs available on the catalogue to improve searchability. You can also search images of artworks from our collections at Art UK. To purchase a range of publications and postcards relating to the Royal London Hospital, please see our Publications for sale list 2022-23 [pdf] for details. To order any of these items, please email us.
Alongside our ongoing programme of object loans to other museums and heritage organisations, and access to collections in the archives searchroom, we are working to make the collections available in new ways to more people, within the hospital itself. Thanks to generous funding from Barts Charity, we are delighted to be commencing a new project in 2023, Bringing the Collections Closer at the Royal London Hospital . Through the project, we will develop new digital displays for busy waiting areas in the Royal London Hospital, providing new ways for patients and visitors to the hospital to explore material from the historic collections of the hospital, which span nearly three centuries. If you're interested in the history of the hospital and your local area, want to learn new skills, and help improve patient experience at the Royal London - join us!
We are currently recruiting project participants for this project - join us to help bring the history of the Royal London Hospital into the hospital by helping curate new interactive displays. Participants will learn new research skills through our collections of objects, photos and archive records; share their own interests and experiences; and help ensure that the stories we tell reflect the hospital communities. To find out more about the project, which will run during 2023-2024 and to get involved, contact us.
St Bartholomew’s Hospital Museum currently remains open, but it will close temporarily from Friday 1 Sep 2023, for the duration of building restoration works. The museum is based in the historic North Wing at Bart’s, which will undergo urgent repair and conservation work as part of the Sharing Historic Barts project led by Barts Heritage.