The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a short walk from where my dentist is situated, in Mornington Crescent, London. As well as being a professional membership organisation for physicians (doctors who work in hospitals), it is also a museum. The RCP states that its core mission is to improve patient care and reduce illness, and their museum is free to visit.
Henry VIII established the College of Physicians in 1518, following petitioning by Thomas Linacre; a royal physician and scholar. The purpose of the institution was to grant licences to qualified physicians. The college also punished those who endangered patients, or who practised without a licence (quacks). Interestingly, the term "quack" wouldn't have been in common usage until the time of the Great Plague of London (1665-66). The term germinated from the mask with a long "beak" that plague doctors wore, which would have contained herbs thought to ward off disease (although it must be mentioned that the word itself is the shortening of a similar-meaning Dutch term, as well as being the sound that comes from a beak).
This is the fifth RCP building in history- it was designed by architect Sir Denys Lasdun (1914-2001), and is considered to be a modernist masterpiece.
To give you some sense of location, here we are facing central London and you can see the Post Office Tower shooting skywards...
I actually thought the building looked more "brutalist" than "modernist." This is a concrete staircase sticking out of the side.
The main doors, and this building was opened in 1964, by Queen Elizabeth II.
The foundation stone was laid by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, in 1962.
I started my visit on the lower ground floor, and at the top of the stairs is this guy (you will see a lot of busts/ statues and portraits displayed around the college).
I'm struggling to decipher the Latin, but it looks like he's William Harvey (1578-1657); a physician who made significant contributions to anatomy and physiology.
The Keiskamma Tapestry was commissioned from the Keiskamma Trust to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the college. The trust is South African, and addresses poverty and disease through education, healthcare and creative programmes.
Overlooking the garden, which is a medicinal garden created in 1965, but extensively replanted in 2005. The use of plants as traditional remedies for ailments is age-old, and dates back thousands of years.
Further along, and sadly the doors to the garden were locked. I took this photo through the window, and then tried to (not altogether successfully!) use the erase tool to get rid of the flash refection.
In the corridor is the Victor Hoffbrand collection of apothecary jars, and it's one of the largest privately owned collections in the country...
I loved reading the names on some of these, and the jar with the label underneath has a spout to administer oil of swallows. Swallows were supposed to clear the sight, aid inflammations, and "preserve people from drunkenness!"
The president's ceremonial robe and caduceus (rod of office).
Chinese diagnostic dolls.
Gout ointment sits at the bottom. I'm not sure what we have to the top (and I know I'm bad!) but they do look like dildos!
In the corridor is a cabinet of information about the RCP's herbarium. Many modern medicines derive from plants.
I had to walk around and get another view of this truly elite example of modernist architecture (maybe I was too quick to describe the exterior as brutalist- brutalism is generally harder; more industrial and less refined).
Staring up at more significant persons in art form...
The Council Chamber was empty so I could have a nosy around in here...
I was unable to enter the Censors' Room as a meeting was going on (I could the last time I was here but silly me didn't take any pictures), so here's a PDF of this wood-panelled room.
I headed back up to the ground floor, and the central "floating" staircase is a real masterpiece! When you visit the museum, you are allowed to go into any room that doesn't have a meeting sign outside.
V.I.P.s from the past immortalised. The lack of diversity is noted- women were excluded from RCP membership until 1909, and couldn't become fellows (a higher level of membership) until 1928.
This is a model of the current Royal College of Physicians.
The RCP was first situated in Knightrider Street (near St Paul's Cathedral), then moved to nearby Amen Corner in 1614. When that building was destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire of London, it was rebuilt in Warwick Lane, then in 1825 it moved to fashionable Pall Mall East.
This is a model of the Cutlerian Anatomy Theatre, which was part of the RCP's third building, in Warwick Lane.
Censors were elected to assist the president, enquire about practitioners of medicine, assist and govern them and- if necessary- prosecute them. Nowadays, this room is the starting point for ceremonial processions.
Tucked by the stairs is this statue of Asclepius and Telesphoros. These stumpy-looking figures are from ancient Greek and Roman mythology. They represent the full cycle of healing.
Today this sublime library preserves over 50,000 titles, dating as far back as 1451 and covering an expansive range of intellectual interests.
The library is considered to be a feat of engineering, and is supported by upper-story walls filled with pre-tensioned steel cantilever beams.
This floor features temporary exhibitions of items selected from their extensive collections...
A closer view, and these animals have a pre-historic element about them. Well, they do say that chickens evolved from dinosaurs...
The main corridor of this floor. You can see the meeting signs warning you not to venture in (I think some filming was also going on here), and there are also offices on this floor.
Garden view from this floor...
Up to the first floor, and I was not able to enter the Dorchester Library the last time I was here as a conference was going on, so today I was pleased that I could!
Welcome to A Body of Knowledge...
A bit of history regarding the previous RCP buildings features...
You have some pressed leaves in one of these books...
Cabinet containing prints, manuscripts and what looks like a musical piece.
I also wasn't able to enter Osler Room the last time I was here (I think a veterinary conference and exhibition was taking place- seemingly, this building accommodates four-legged mammals as well as two-legged mammals!)
The room has a working hydraulic wall that divides the room in two, and you can see it here- it sits adjacent to the columns.
A view over the garden from this floor, with the reflected flash giving off a ghostly feel (note to self: in future take more care when photographing things!)
This chap is Sir Raymond Hoffenberg, President of the RCP from 1983-89. He was an endocrinologist and specialised in studying the thyroid.
I noticed this sculpture because it's by Dame Elisabeth Frink. I studied her during my art foundation course (in another incarnation!)
A V.I.P. portrait view, and during Henry VIII's time the term physician was more widely used than doctor, as it described university-trained professionals who were the elite of the medical world...
The museum shouldn't take up more than an hour of your time. Here we have a grand piano, just stuffed into this corner.
And now we come to the pièce de résistance- the anatomical tables. These are a rare set of six anatomical tables, and they're among the oldest surviving human anatomy preparations in the world, and only two sets of tables like these are known to exist.
Close-up of the male, and the anatomical tables were created in the 1650s.
Close-up of the female, and they came from the University of Padua, Italy, which was one of the leading academic centres in Europe, especially when it came to anatomy.
A dissected adult male arterial and venous system, and bodies came from executed criminals... Nice!
Dissected animal venous system.
..They worked in private practice and later in hospitals. College fellows had to pass a famously difficult oral exam to show they were classically educated as well as medically trained.
Herbarium information cabinet.
They display human veins, arteries and nerves, and they're arranged on varnished wooden panels.
Here we have a dissected adult male nervous system, and a dissected adult female arterial and venous system.
Dissected placenta or portal venous system.
Extraordinary skill would have been required to produce these tables.
These tables were probably created as teaching aids.
I touched the nerves of a 17th century hand!
Well, not quite- but this is a 3D plastic scan of the first table.
In 1823 all of these the tables were discovered in a country house library and given to the RCP. Not much is known about their history, so they remain a bit of a mystery!
In 1823 all of these the tables were discovered in a country house library and given to the RCP. Not much is known about their history, so they remain a bit of a mystery!
Dr William Hunter Teaching Anatomy at the Royal Academy, 1772, by Johann Zoffany (1733-1810).
You can take your studies further regarding medical knowledge, family history, the impact of historical events and advances throughout the medical profession. The archives, heritage library and museum collections can all be viewed by appointment.
More busts at the top of the stairs, and online research resources are also available.
The Linacre wall is a philanthropy installation dating from 2018, marking 500 years of the RCP. The bricks commemorate those who donated.
I'll leave you with a view of "One Marylebone"- which used to be the Holy Trinity Church, until they turned it into a venue that can be hired for events such as fashion shows and wedding receptions- as I made my way to Great Portland Street Underground Station and home.
The Royal College of Physicians Museum, I will return (if only to take my own photo of the Censors' Room!)
Until then,
TTFN
Miss Elaineous
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