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Free entry - booking recommended

Tuesday to Saturday: 10am – 5pm

Museum gallery with cobalt blue walls. In the foreground there is a brown wood effect table, on which there is a brass microscope in a cylindrical glass case. In the background, museum cases contain oil paintings, a marble bust, surgical instruments and a white gown on a manikin.

New Frontiers

The practice of surgery was transformed in the 1800s by three major breakthroughs which are explored in this gallery: the relief of pain, the introduction of germ-free surgical environments and the identification of disease at a cellular level. By 1900, surgeons were operating on every part of the human body.
A painting of a seated man, wearing a white gown and orange rubber surgical gloves, and holding a white cap

Ivor Back FRCS (1879–1951) by William Orpen, 1926

Museum gallery with cobalt blue walls. In the foreground there is a projection of surgical illustrations.