Bethlem: Worth a Visit?
Event Information
Description
‘Bedlam’ has long loomed large in the popular imagination, becoming a synonym for chaos in Elizabethan times. Two talks will explore various aspects of the history of one of the world’s oldest hospitals for the treatment of mental illness, from Cibber’s famous statues of ’raving’ and ’melancholy’ madness to life at the Victorian Hospital in Southwark, now the Imperial War Museum.
Colin Gale (Bethlem Royal Hospital Archivist) “The Brainless Brothers: A Biography of Cibber’s Raving and Melancholy Madness”
Sarah Chaney (UCL – PhD Candidate) "All Roads Lead to Bethlem": Patients and Practitioners in the Nineteenth-Century Asylum
Free entry includes a glass of wine but please arrive early as the capacity of the museum is only 100 people.
Access the courtyard of St Bartholomew's Hospital via Henry VIII Gate and turn to your right. Enter The Robin Brook Centre via the entrance which says 'Outpatients/Minor Injuries'. There will be stairs and a lift to the 3rd floor on your right as soon as you enter the building.
Organiser Pathology Museum (Queen Mary)
Organiser of Bethlem: Worth a Visit?
Pathology Museum WEBSITE
**Please bring ID to receive alcohol at events**
Refunds/exchanges for evening events may be offered at the discretion of the Pathology Museum only if requested 48 hours before ticket sales end. (This doesn't include cancelled events which are automatically refunded.) For Taxidermy and other weekend workshops it is ONE WEEK before.
Prior to the appointment of Carla Valentine as the current Technical Curator, the museum was in a state of disarray. As medical teaching changed, the need for the study of anatomy and pathology pots declined. Without funding the pots and the infrastructure of the building suffered and it wasn't until a couple of years ago that a donation was secured to renovate the collection. New ways to ensure the survival of the collection were also trialled, including conferences and events.
The Pathology Museum, a part of Queen Mary University of London, is a medical-humanities hub and venue for public engagement and education. Our events showcase research and the arts from our own institution as well as other universities, independant researchers and other museums. Our activities are in accordance with Human Tissue Authority recommendtions on Public Display of medical collections, and the University Museums Group guidance, and are sensitive to the dignity of the collection.
As it is part of Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, the museum is based within St Bartholomews which is a teaching hospital. Therefore, follow the signs for the Robin Brook Centre and go through the open entrance indicated below. You'll find the museum on the 3rd floor:
