The Wellcome Collection

The Wellcome Collection (named after founder Sir Henry Wellcome (1853-1936) an American businessman, collector and philanthropist who ended up a British knight) describes itself as “a free visitor destination for the incurably curious” and “explores the connections between medicine, life and art in the past, present and future”. I like to think of myself as incurably curious and I think “a destination for the incurably curious” sums the place up splendidly.

It certainly helps to be curious about things medical – though that term is used fairly loosely and you will find amongst the displays here ivory walking sticks belonging to Charles Darwin, Napoleon’s Bonaparte’s gold (coloured) toothbrush, 18th -19th century ivory Chinese diagnostic dolls, a collection of Japanese sexual aids and the ultimate in Victorian curatives for the most hideous disease of the day, nickel-plated steel male anti-masturbation devices – ouch!

 

Perhaps slightly more medically related is a lock of hair  purporting to be that of King George III (1760-1820).

Royal biological material such as this is extremely rare and recent tests on this hair have found it to contain an unexpectedly high concentration of arsenic which may explain the so-called “madness” of George III if indeed the hair belongs to George III.

Of course, no collection of curiosities would be complete without shrunken heads and mummified bodies. The Wellcome Collection does not disappoint in this regard. Pictured below is a mummified male body originally buried in the fetal position from Peru and dated relatively recently when one thinks of mummies (c1200-1400).

While I have to say I am more intrigued by these older curiosities/exhibits, the majority of which, which would have been collected by Henry Wellcome himself – and thus concentrated on this part of the collection – the collection is right up there with modern medical exhibits including some rather controversial items such as a plastinated human body slice – pictured alongside – (on loan from the Institute of Plastination in Heidelberg).

Readers may more readily identify with the Institute though the inventor of plastination, Gunther von Hagens and his Body Worlds exhibitions or TV shows.

With about a million items to chose from, visiting exhibitions and what appears to be a policy of not over (read sparsely) filling limited exhibition space what’s on display here changes regularly. Even what are classified as permanent collections seem to be, at most, semi-permanent.

The Wellcome Collection is managed and I imagine almost exclusively financed by the Wellcome Trust which was established under Henry Wellcome’s will in 1936 and is now the world’s largest independent charitable foundation funding research into human and animal health.

While most people, including me, come here for the medical exhibit component of the Wellcome Collection, the Trust also manages, as part of the Wellcome Collection, the Wellcome Library, a collection of over 2 million items making it one of the world’s greatest collections, for the study of the history and progress of medicine.

To be fair, I only spent a couple of hours here and got so caught up in the “Medicine Man” collection that I had insufficient time to do justice to, or fully appreciate, the remainder of the collection. I will certainly be returning and I absolutely recommend a visit for “the incurably curious” among my readers.

Lack of time also precluded me from visiting what looked like a well stocked bookshop and the café – something else to do next visit.

Opening hours – Galleries

Mon – Closed
Tue , Wed, Fri, Sat 10am – 6pm
Thur – 10am – 10pm
Sun – 11am – 6pm

Entrance Fee: Free

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This blog entry is one of a group (loop) of entries based on many trips to London. I suggest you continue with my next entry –Women of World War II Memorial – or to start the loop at the beginning go to my introductory entry – London…as much of life as the world can show.

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