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Fascinating collection not only of specimens, skeletons, surgical instruments and so on, but also some rather good paintings, recently reopened and well presented

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St John’s Gate was built in 1504 and marks the entry to the site of the priory run by the Order of the Knights of St John. It now incorporates the museum of the Knights of St John, including a sizeable exhibition of the work of the St John’s Ambulance service.

Of the three downstairs exhibition rooms, two are devoted to the history of the Knights of St John. There is a cannon that spent some time in the sea off Malta, a range of medals and porcelain, several impressive documents, and a couple of full-size knights in armour. There is also an interesting (and, I think, refreshingly hard-headed) account of how the Crusaders sacked Jerusalem in 1099 (the Order of St John was founded in Jerusalem “by 1099”). A couple of scale models of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – given to pilgrims in the 17th and 18th centuries – provided the highlight for me. I skipped the history video that was on offer.

The third exhibition room focuses on the work of the St John’s Ambulance. The room is much more modern and up-to-date than the rest of the museum – with computer terminals and co-ordinated displays. It is quite different in tone from the rest of the museum, but also interesting and easy-to-follow. Despite the modern feel to the exhibit, the history is well-presented – I particularly liked an illustrated “Esmarch’s triangular bandage” from the 1870s. Apparently these were introduced to the German army in 1868 and brought to Britain in 1877. Shortly afterwards, Germany adopted the ambulance service that St John’s was already providing in Britain.

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The Wellcome Collection is a small, eclectic, imaginative, humane, humorous exhibition of objects related, sometimes in the loosest sense, to medicine. It is WONDERFUL.

Henry Wellcome was a turn-of-the century collector of objects related to medicine. His interests were broad and this new exhibition space presents highlights of his collection in a way that is humane, humorous, and informative. Although small and relatively unspectacular, it is imaginative and interesting and very definitely worth a visit.

The Wellcome Collection is divided into two broad sections – a permanent exhibition of Wellcome’s collection of artefacts, and temporary exhibitions of matters medical. Both exhibitions cleverly mix scientific and artistic displays. On the day I visited, the temporary exhibition was devoted to “the heart”, with an array of real hearts in aspic (including a recently-acquired human heart) and a no-holds-barred film of a heart operation in amongst love poetry and Valentines cards.

The permanent collection of “medical” artefacts really caught my interest. The first exhibit you come across is of three similarly-sized chairs in a row – a seventeenth-century Chinese “torture chair” (with blades where cushions might be), a nineteenth century birthing chair, and a nineteenth century dentist’s chair. Excellent.

The body of the permanent collection is based on large thematic display cases – “seeking help”, “end of life”, “understanding the body” …. . These cases contain an incredibly diverse range of objects – I particularly liked the winged and top-hatted figure to ward off malevolent spirits from the Nicabar Islands, the good-luck anulets from the First World War (saints for the Russians, a shell and a jewel for the Japanese, a black cat and the king for the British), and a surprisingly-tiny shrunken human head from Papua New Guinea. There is also a quirky collection of paintings with a medical theme (including a copy of a Russian icon).

While the Wellcome Collection does not have the heavy-hitting stars of the British Museum (just down the road) it is well-annotated and organised, has plenty of stools and space, and has a pleasant café and bookstore attached. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is accessible and interesting and definitely worth a visit.

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