Royal College of Physicians
Royal College of Physicians
11 St. Andrews Place
Regent's Park
London
Greater London
NW1 4LE
England
Website
Telephone
0203 075 1543
Fax
020 7486 3729
The Royal College of Physicians is the oldest medical college in England. Since our foundation by royal charter of Henry VIII in 1518, the RCP has built up magnificent collections of books, manuscripts, portraits, silver, and medical artefacts.
Visit us to experience extraordinary historical and ceremonial spaces set inside a radically modern building created by Sir Denys Lasdun in 1964.
Our portrait galleries reveal eminent physicians by some of Britain's greatest artists. Our silver collection has been used for centuries in ceremonies and fine dining. Our medical instrument collections include early stethoscopes, bleeding tools, apothecary jars and a rare set of 17th century human remains - our anatomical tables.
Guided tours can be booked in advance for groups of 6+.
Venue Type:
Architecture centre, Gallery, Archive, Museum, Library, Historic house or home
The collections of the Royal College of Physicians relate to the history of the College and the history of the Physician’s profession. They include; portraits, silver, medals, medical artefacts and instruments. They are on display throughout the College's building.
The portraits form a record of the most eminent figures in the history of medicine from the 16th century to the present day. We hold 350 oil portraits and 4000 prints. The collection includes outstanding pieces such as the busts of Baldwin Hamey Junior (1600-1676) by Edward Pierce and Richard Mead (1673-1754) by Louis François Roubiliac. Major painters represented include Godfrey Kneller, Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Hudson, Johann Zoffany and Thomas Lawrence.
The silver collection reflects events in College history as well as the lives and generosity of its Fellows and Members. Few pieces pre-date the Great Fire of London in 1666 because of a robbery during the previous year. Baldwin Hamey’s inkstand bell and William Harvey’s demonstration rod are two of the pieces that survive. Many pieces of silver are ‘working’ objects and are used to this day for formal occasions in the College. Special objects include the President’s staff of office, the silver caduceus and the silver-gilt College mace.
The College also owns six seventeenth century anatomical tables, made by drying and mounting the blood vessels and nerves of the human body onto blocks of wood which were then varnished and used as a teaching aid for the study of anatomy. The Symons Collection of medical instruments began as a group of objects relating to self-care in Georgian times and expanded to include items that would have been used by physicians when treating patients in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
For further information go to www.rcplondon.ac.uk/museum-and-garden
Collection details
Archives, Coins and Medals, Decorative and Applied Art, Fine Art, Medicine, Personalities, Science and Technology, Social History
Key artists and exhibits
- medical instruments
- anatomy
- medicine
- physician
- Doctor
- William Hunter
- William Harvey
The mirror of health: discovering medicine in the golden age of Islam
The Royal College of Physicians holds a rare collection of Islamic medical manuscripts dating from the 13th century onwards.
This exhibition presents the newly researched collection for the first time and explores the medical traditions that developed in the heartland of Islam from the 9th to the 17th century. Star objects highlight the influence of magic, divination and alchemical tradition on early clinicians and in the development of new medical theories.
Displayed alongside rare RCP's manuscripts are books and artefacts on loan from the Science Museum, London, Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, The Bodleian Library, Oxford and Eton College, Windsor.
Suitable for
- Any age
Website
Getting there
The Royal College of Physicians is located next to Regent's Park in the centre of London. It is easily accessible by all forms of transport.
The main entrance can be reached by approaching the Outer Circle from Park Square East and the A501 Marylebone Road.
By underground:
Regent's Park Station on the Bakerloo line (3 minutes' walk)
Great Portland Street Station on the Circle, Metropolitan and City lines (5 minutes' walk)
Warren Street Station on the Victoria and Northern lines (10 minutes' walk)
By train:
Euston Station (15 minutes' walk)
King's Cross Station (5 minutes by taxi)
St Pancras Station - Eurostar terminal (5 minutes by taxi)
Marylebone Station (5 minutes by taxi)
By road:
From the north: A4201 Albany Street from A41 North, the M1, A1, M40 and M25
From the east: A501 Euston Road from A13 East, the M25, the M20 and the M2
From the west: A501 Marylebone Road from A40 Westway, the M4 Heathrow and the M25
From the south: A4201 Portland Place from Westminster and the A23, M25 and M23 Gatwick
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