Opened Up: 200 years of the Hunterian Museum
Tuesday 14 May-Saturday 9 November
Qvist Gallery - Free
The Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons over the last two hundred years has boasted renowned collections of human anatomy and pathology as well as natural history and works of art.
This bicentenary exhibition asks who took care of them, where and how were they displayed, who visited them and what role does the museum play in surgical education today?
Discover how these diverse objects have informed the medical world and fascinated illustrious visitors from medics to monarchs. See hidden objects brought out of our stores and cutting edge medical models crafted by those working behind the scenes both then and now, continuing two centuries of medical museum tradition.
Exhibition entry is free of charge.
Open Tuesday – Saturday, 10am–5pm.
Extinct
Art Cases, Hunterian Museum. Open Tues-Sat 10am-5pm
Free
The museum’s stored collections include specimens and images of extinct and endangered animals. This temporary exhibition will display the remains of prehistoric giants, such as the impressive woolly mammoth, and the immense Megalodon shark, alongside creatures lost only a few decades ago, including the Tasmanian tiger. ‘Extinct’ raises questions about human interaction with the natural world and will also highlight the plight of critically endangered species.
Model Anatomy
Levy Case exhibition, College entrance hall
Open Monday – Friday 9am–5pm, Saturday 10am-5pm.
Free
This small display features a recently conserved plaster and papier-maché anatomical teaching model from the Hunterian Museum collection. The striking male torso was made by the German company SOMSO Modelle in the early 20th century.
Humans as Fossils
Levy Case exhibition, College entrance hall
Open Monday – Friday 9am–5pm, Saturday 10am-5pm
Free
The Museum’s collection of fossil hominin casts was mainly acquired in the late 19th and first half of the 20th Century when the College was a major research hub for human evolution. Most of the casts were acquired as a result of the efforts of Sir Arthur Keith who was Conservator of the Hunterian Museum and an expert in this field. A selection of these casts will be on temporary display in the main entrance hall Levy Cases from October 2012. Hominin fossils have immense scientific, historic and cultural importance globally, and each specimen has particular pride of place in the country in which it was found. Distributing replicas of key specimens to international researchers can thus stimulate further research without the specimens leaving their native country. Exhibition of these casts also allows museums to keep the public informed of new discoveries and advances in our understanding of our own evolutionary history.
"BIG"
Large Levy Case, College entrance hall
Open Monday – Friday 9am–5pm, Saturday 10am-5pm
Free
“BIG; oversized treasures from the Odontological Collection” displays a selection of the largest animal skulls and jaws held within the varied museum collections. This temporary exhibition includes, amongst other objects, the cranium of a killer whale, the tusks of a hippopotamus and the skull of a black rhino. All of this material has been kept within the stores since the mid twentieth century, but will now be on public display for the remainder of 2011.
Exhibition archive
Find out more about all previous exhibitions in our Exhibitions archive »
