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Free entry - booking recommended

Tuesday to Saturday: 10am – 5pm

Painting of an surgical operation taking place. The colours are mostly shades of pastel blue, with pastel pinks and yellows. The patient is not clearly visible as the composition is filled with the surgeon in the centre and other members of staff, all of whom wear surgical gowns and masks and, apart from one, look intently at the operation.

Concourse (2) by Barbara Hepworth, 1948; Barbara Hepworth © Bowness

The Hunterian Museum, named after the 18th century surgeon and anatomist John Hunter (1728-1793), reopened on 16 May 2023 following a five-year redevelopment of the Royal College of Surgeons of England’s headquarters at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in central London.

The £4.6 million museum development includes the display of over 2,000 anatomical preparations from Hunter’s original collection, alongside instruments, equipment, models, paintings and archive material, which trace the history of surgery from ancient times to the latest robot-assisted operations. The Museum includes England’s largest public display of human anatomy.

Human Remains

The Museum contains many hundreds of specimens of human remains, gathered before modern standards of consent were established. We recognise the debt owed to those people – named and unnamed – who in life and death have helped to advance medical knowledge. 

Some people may feel uneasy about viewing human remains and should consider whether visiting the Hunterian Museum is right for them.