English surgery museum

By
This item appears on page 64 of the August 2017 issue.

The oldest-extant surgical theater, located in the attic of an 18th-century church, can be visited in London. The newly refurbished Old Operating Theatre Museum (9a St. Thomas Street, London, England, SE1 9RY, U.K.; phone +44 020 7188 2679, oldoperatingtheatre.com) dates to 1822, when it became the surgery room for the St. Thomas Church Hospital. 

Still present are the wooden bed where surgeries were performed (without the benefit of anesthetics or antibiotics) and the surrounding benches from which medical students watched.

Museum open daily, 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Guided tour offered Sunday at 12 p.m. Weekly events include a (graphic) Victorian surgery demonstration each Saturday at 2 p.m. and a talk on English herbal medicine each Sunday at 2. Events are included in the £6.50 (near $8.50) entry fee, but book ahead, as space is limited.