Pathology Museum - Open Day 22 August 2017
22 August 2017
Time: 1:00 - 4:00pm
Venue: Pathology Museum, St Bartholomew’s Hospital
Please note: Due to the huge popularity of our last open day, booking is essential. It is also important that you arrive during your time slot, and consider others by leaving at the end of it.
QMUL’s Pathology Museum, based at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, is opening its doors to public visitors of all ages for two afternoons this August, the 8th and the 22nd
The Pathology Museum is not normally open to the public in a drop-in manner as it is a university teaching facility in use by the students. Often, particularly during the autumn and winter, the museum hosts scheduled events and seminars which are outside of office hours, based around particular topics, and require the purchase of a ticket for entry. (Entrance fees go to the museum for its upkeep).
These two open afternoons are different: there is no ‘exhibition’ as such, merely a chance to drop into the museum, with the family, and view the specimens on the ground floor at your leisure. It is also a chance to see the conservation of the collection occurring, as it does on a day-to-day basis when the space isn’t being used for teaching and exams. There is no minimum age for visitors although parents are advised to use their discretion: prams and pushchairs are not recommended in the museum and there is no disabled access (more information here).
In addition to the pathology collection, there is an art exhibition on the walls of the museum which can also be viewed during these two open afternoons. ‘Beautiful Corpse’ by Mia-Jane Harris is a series of beautiful and ethereal photographs of human remains.
Of the images Mia says, “I wanted to show people items from medical museums/collections that I didn’t think were appreciated the way that they should be. These museums hold collections of thousands of human cadaver sections and specimens that are used for scientific research and study. They are looked at every day to learn but people are so focused on what they are that they don’t notice how amazingly beautiful they are. So I wanted to take away the scientific surroundings, the educational environment, the dust and the grime and the information text books to leave behind just these absolutely striking objects.”
