We are back again after the great success of last year!
SOLD OUT
May 15th at 6pm, 7pm, 8pm
Surgery by Gaslight & Other Medical Tales
Experience the fear and the emotion of a patient in the 19th century - come and have your leg amputated in the oldest surviving operating theatre in England.
When the light gets dim ... the surgery comes alive!
April 2010
EVENING LECTURES:
£10 per person (including a complimentary glass of wine)
Sir Hans Sloane: Enlightenment Surgery
Thursday 1st April 6pm-8pm
William Cheselden, who cut for the stone! Samuel Sharpe, the eye surgeon! The dissolution of the Company of Barber Surgeons and the rise of the scienific surgeon in the 18th century. Hear about some of the surgeons who joined the Royal Society and worked to elevate the staus of the profession, their practice of the science of anatomy and the operations they developed!
February 2010
Sunday 7th February
The Old Operating Theatre Museum at the Movies
The Museum will be projecting a series of edited highlights of short films and TV productions made in or about the Old Operating Theatre over the last 20 years.
It will include the amazing short film 'Unterschenkel-amputation', a 1903 film showing the speed of an amputation of a leg, courtesy of the Wellcome Library.
The films will be on from 1pm - 3.00pm with a break for a short talk on the Herb Garret at 2pm
THE ODYSSEY OF CHOCOLATE
In collaboration with the Royal Society's Local Heroes
See further with the Royal Society in 2010 - celebrate 350 years of excellence in science
EVENTS FOR CHILDREN & FAMILIES:
Sir Hans Sloane: The Odyssey of Chocolate Workshop
Discover the fascinating story of chocolates long, rich history, from it's early usage by the ancient Aztecs, who drank chocolate as a bitter beverage during religious and social ceremonies, to the explosion and mass production of chocolate throughout Europe in the nineteenth century!
For centuries chocolate has symbolised: wealth: health and love across a diverse range of cultures as well as being the nations favourite tasty treat of choice. The odyssey of chocolate aims to explore many aspects of the rich social significance of chocolate's history!
The workshop is suitable for all ages and includes sampling the different variations of chocolate in it's modern form as well as designing your own chocolate label. The only requirement for entry; is a love of chocolate.
Sunday 14th February 2.pm
Treat yourself for Valentine's Day!
Tuesday 16th & Thursday 18th February 2pm
EVENING LECTURES:
£10 per person (including a complimentary glass of wine)
Sir Hans Sloane & Chocolate
Thursday 4th March 6pm-8pm
Wikipedia at the Old Operating Theatre Museum
On Sunday 28th February, the Museum is encouraging visitors to come and take interesting photographs of the Museum and the displays and to upload these to wikipedia. Details of the project and uploading can be found click here: or visit http://www.britainloveswikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
We are also hoping visitors and supporters will update the wikipedia page
Lectures and Events held in 2009
EXPLORING THE INVISIBILE:
New Event at The Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret
4th - 7th December
8th December; A talk by the artist
A unique live installation and exhibition called “Exploring the Invisible” opens on December 3rd, displaying people and objects photographed using the natural light emitted by certain strains of bacteria.
Bioluminescent bacteria are widely used in scientific research, usually as internal markers. By inverting this practice and employing bacteria as an external light source, objects and bodies, surfaces and skin are exposed to the soft ethereal glow of the bacteria, establishing new points of contact and visual punctures.
The project is a collaboration between artist Anne Brodie, microbiologist Dr Simon Park and curator Dr Caterina Albano. It is funded by an Engaging Science Arts Award from the Wellcome Trust.
Using a strain of bioluminescent bacteria called Photobacterium phosphoreum,
the team has produced a series of portraits of objects, including some of
Joseph Lister’s personal papers.
Lister was an early pioneer of the use of antiseptics in surgery and the connection between bacteria and infections, together with the modern application in biomedical research of the bacterial gene responsible for emitting light, made it particularly fitting that bacteria should help to shed light – quite literally – on Lister’s life and work.
Among his papers, held at the Wellcome Library, are personal letters,
sketchbooks and scientific notebooks.
The project culminates in a live installation of work within the herb garret for one night only, and human photographic projections onto the ancient operating table at
the Old Operating Theatre, St Thomas Street, London SE1.
On December 8, the team will give a talk about their work
at the Old Operating Theatre.
October Events
HALLOWEEN HALF TERM HORROR!
For All
Monday 26th October at 2pm
Mary Seacole's Medical Workshop
in the Herb Garret of the Old Operating Theatre Museum
Have a go at making Mary's remedies and try them out on yourself, if you are feeling brave!Mary's remedies included; Infusion of Sage
Mustard plasters and poultices
and Ginger Root teaAlso, guava jelly and sarsaprilla tasting!
The Witches' Kitchen
Tuesday 27th October at 2pm
& Saturday 31st October (Halloween) at 3pm
There has always been a strong fascinating relationship between herbs, folklore and
even witchcraft in this country and in the rest of the world.
Wise women and shamans often took the role of doctors in tribes and small rural villages
using herbal remedies to cure physical and supernatural afflictions.
From the mandrake's scream to witches unguent, join us for a talk on medicine & magic among The smells and spells of our atmopsheric garret.
For Children
The Ghost Ward Trail...
.An eerie exploration of mysterious medicine
Take a map and follow the trail around the museum to uncover
the horrors of the hospitals of the past....
Macabre Medicine
Tuesday 27th October at 11am and 3pm
Wednesday 28th October at 11am, 2pm and 3pm
Friday 30th October at 11am, 2pm and 3pm
Saturday 31st October - Halloween - at 11am
Stories and activities for young witches and warlocks
...will the ghostly grey lady appear?
For the Adults
Saturday 24th October at 2pm
Tales of the Bodysnatcher
(not suitable for the under 12s)
Nineteenth Century surgical techniques advanced with knowledge gained by anatomical dissection.
Thursday 29th October 6pm-8pm
WITCHCRAFT, Women & Wickedness
a talk by Michael Doolan
This talk will discuss Anthropological approaches to magic and ritual.
Ideas from psychoanalysis will be used in an exploration of witchcraft
as an historical and contemporary social phenomenon.
This talk is not suitable for children
Contains material that some people may find upsetting
Tuesday 3rd November at 6.30pm
Autopsy: Myths, Legends and the Reality’
a talk by pathologist Maesha Deheragoda
For National Patyhology Week 2009
Are autopsies just like how they are shown on TV, or is there more to it?
At this interactive event, you will have the opportunity to engage with a pathologist who performs autopsies and find out how they help doctors understand more about disease, as well as treat living patients.
You’ll also have the chance to handle the instruments used in autopsies and work out what they are used for!
Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th September
Open House
Open House London is the Capital's largest architectural showcase, where 700 buildings of every conceivable type, shape and size will open their doors to Londoners completely for free.
The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret are taking part in Open House again this year. Cathedral Group will also be opening the Church of St Thomas for the first time this year on Saturday 19th October.
Further information about London Open House is available at:
Click here for archive of 08 eventsFEBRUARY EVENTSClick here for March Events |
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In House-Exhibitions/Art InstallationTHIS FATAL SUBJECT - 28th January - 29th February Click here for further details |
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Live Demonstrations and workshops |
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Speed Surgery - Surgery in the 19th CenturyEvery Saturday 2.00pm Click here for details |
Herbs, the Garret and Operating TheatreEvery Sunday 2.00pm Click here for details |
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Half Term Events (16th - 20th February) |
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Victorian SurgeryMonday 16th February 2.00pm |
Victorian SurgeryTuesday 17th February 2.00pm |
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SHEEP, SNAILS AND SHELLFISHWednesday 18th February 2.00pm Click here for details |
SHEEP, SNAILS AND SHELLFISHFriday 19th February 2.00pm Click here for details |
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Speed SurgerySaturday 20th February 11.00am Click here for details |
Speed SurgerySaturday 20th February 2.00pm Click here for details |
Speed SurgerySaturday 20th February 3.00pm Click here for details |
Is it Scary - click here |
DETAILS OF FEBRUARY EVENTS
Live Demonstrations and workshops
Speed Surgery - Every Saturday in February at 2.00 pm
A Live Demonstration of Surgery before Anaesthesia.
"I have broken my arm - I am a dead man!"
Demonstrations of Victorian Surgery, when operations were performed without anaesthesia and a patient's only relief from agony was the skill of the surgeon's knife.
Herbs, the Garret and Operating Theatre - Every Sunday in February 2.00 pm
A talk on the fascinating history of the Museum and its medical heritage.
VICTORIAN SURGERY
Monday 16th February and Tuesday 17th February
at 2pm
“A patient preparing for an operation was like a condemned criminal preparing for execution.”
A demonstration of an operation without anaesthetics or antiseptics, in Britain’s only remaining wooden 19th century Operating Theatre.
How will you survive...?
Bizarre prescriptions & remedies that involved animals in ancient times .
Can a crocodile turn into a miraculous cure?
A workshop for kids that adults will love.
SPEED SURGERY
Saturday 21st February
at 11am, 2pm and 3pm
"I have broken my arm - I am a dead man!"
Demonstrations of Victorian Surgery, when operations were performed without anaesthesia and a patient's only relief from agony was the skill of the surgeon's knife.
A real amputation kit awaits...!
How will you survive?
In House-Exhibitions/Art Installations
THIS FATAL SUBJECT - 28th January - 29th February
A WELLCOME TRUST ARTS AWARD FUNDED PROJECT
by Gordon Museum Artists in Residence, visual artist Susan Aldworth wax sculptor Eleanor Crook, and Writer in Residence, poet Valerie Laws
This Fatal Subject is a very exciting and innovative project, in which the three resident artists, with the help and support of Professor Susan Standring at KCL and Bill Edwards at the Gordon Museum, are working with scientists at KCL and elsewhere, researching the physical process of dying.
This show consists of a few examples of individual and collaborative work, some of which are works in progress. Some notes on what is on display follow below.
FILM: CELL SUICIDE: A PLEASURE POSTPONED
Animated film by Susan Aldworth, animation and sound by Barney Quinton, featuring a visual poem which undergoes apoptosis by Valerie Laws. This collaboration, still in development, arose from our individual researches into the topic of programmed cell death.
ETCHINGS by Susan Aldworth
Apoptosis 1&2: etchings inspired by microphotographs of apoptotic cells. Original prints: etching and aquatint 35 x 50 cms
Dissollution 1,2&3: a triptych about the dissolution of identity from changes in the brain for people with Alzheimer’s. Original prints: etching and aquatint 65 x 50 cm
POEMS by Valerie Laws, artwork by Susan Aldworth
Litter of Moons, (shown by kind permission of Mslexia magazine), and Sirenomelia were inspired by specimens at the Gordon Museum. Benign and Leang Yen are about Lam Qua’s paintings, one of which is in the Gordon, the other at Yale. In the Dissection Room follows visits to dissection at KCL. From Fin to Fingers is on the theme of Apoptosis in the foetus.
WAX SCULPTURES by Eleanor Crook
The Failing Consciousness 2008. Work in progress – the sculpture will be cast in silicone rubber and fitted with an animatronic mechanism making it able to speak a deathbed speech written by Valerie Laws, then die.
This show represents the climax of Phase One of the project, which has been funded by the Wellcome Trust as a Research and Development Arts Award. During this year, the artists made contact with scientists, forged working relationships, and shared their research findings into this vital, and fatal subject. They have been collecting material and information for their work, and developing their artistic practices too. Aldworth, Laws and Crook work as three individual practitioners, but are also developing collaborative work which breaks down barriers between their different art forms.
Phase Two of This Fatal Subject is planned to begin in 2009, culminating in production of groundbreaking individual and collaborative work on the science of dying, which will form public exhibitions in London and elsewhere, as well as publication and performance. You will find updates on Phase Two on the website, www.thisfatalsubject.org. See also www.susanaldworth.com and www.valerielaws.co.uk.
March 2009 Events
May Events
National Family Week
Attend this family event with an iron will and strong stomach.Without anaesthesia amputation would have to be swift. St Thomas’ and Guy’s Hospital surgeons were strong and taught students to give mercy to the patient and remove the limb as quickly as possible. Within the old operating theatre of 1822, the demonstrator will show harsh, but essential surgical methods using an original 19th Century surgical kit.
As a trainee Apothecary (pharmacist of the 18th Century) you would have had to assess patients and create remedies. In the attic of St Thomas' Church take the chance to train as an apothecary, grind your own medicines, roll pills and discover weirdly wonderful tonics like Snail Water, but remember these are not just make-believe, these are real remedies of the past.
Attend this family event with an iron will and strong stomach.Without anaesthesia amputation would have to be swift. St Thomas’ and Guy’s Hospital surgeons were strong and taught students to give mercy to the patient and remove the limb as quickly as possible. Within the old operating theatre of 1822, the demonstrator will show harsh, but essential surgical methods using an original 19th Century surgical kit.
14.00 Herbal Hospital
The hard work and passion of the apothecary and his poor assistants.
A demonstration of simple, effective, ancient processes for the transformation of herbs into medicine. Tablets, pills, poultices made the medical world go around…
Friday 29th
14.00 The Apothecary Shop
As a trainee Apothecary (pharmacist of the 18th Century) you would have had to assess patients and create remedies. In the attic of St Thomas' Church take the chance to train as an apothecary, grind your own medicines, roll pills and discover weirdly wonderful tonics like Snail Water, but remember these are not just make-believe, these are real remedies of the past.
14.00 Victorian Surgery
Your leg is broken…it must be removed.
Bring in the surgeon, the instruments, the vicious tools of healing.
Three knives, a saw in a crimson velvet lined box…
How will you survive?
15.00 Herbal Hospital
The hard work and passion of the apothecary and his poor assistants.
A demonstration of simple, effective, ancient processes for the transformation of herbs into medicine. Tablets, pills, poultices made the medical world go around…
Saturday 6th June at 2.00pm
Part of 'Walking Weekend'
'The Story of Guys, St Thomas & Medicine in Southwark Guided Walk'
A walk through the history of two of the most important charitable hospitals of Victorian London.
The walk starts at the Old Operating Theatre Museum with a demonstration of 19th Century Surgery and a visit to the museum's Herb Garret and ends at the near-by Guy’s Hospital.
Saturday 13th June, at 1.00, 2.00 & 3.00 pm
"Leeches, Lancets and Toothpulling"
with Colonial Surgeon Richard Kennedy
Richard Kennedy is an author and historian who will talk about the differences in
the practice of medicine in the American colonies and the practice in London during
the same era. He will demonstrate the use of leeches, saws and chisels for amputation
without anaesthesia and the "latest" devices used for rotted teeth.
Saturday 13th June from 2.00 pm
Part of 'London on Film Weekend'
"The Old Operating Theatre Museum on Film, TV and Video"
A selection of appearances of the Operating Theatre in documentaries
and films will be projected from 2pm onwards.
Live Demonstrations and workshops
Speed Surgery - Every Saturday at 2.00 pm
A Live Demonstration of Surgery before Anaesthesia
Herbs, the Garret and Operating Theatre - Every Sunday 2.00 pm
A talk on the fascinating history of the Museum and its medical heritage.
Other events to be announced.
