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Tuesday 27 January 2015

The Old Operating Theatre


The NHS doesn't seem nearly so bad after a visit to the old operating theatre museum.

Part of the Old St Thomas hospital that dates back to the 13th century and also home to Florence Nightingales nursing school.  The operating theatre (Europe's oldest) was originally the herb garrett that was transformed into this theatre in 1822.

Many learned surgical skills either by partaking or being part of the audience watching the gruesome operations.  Think amputation with no anaesthetic.  The theatre was blocked up and hidden for nearly 100 years only being discovered during renovations of the hospital in 1956.  In 1962 it reopened as a museum.

As a special treat tomorrow I will post an image of some of the surgical instruments.  Bet you can't wait.
Details for a visit can be found here.

8 comments:

Mike@Bit About Britain said...

Look forward to it with baited breath. A while back A Bit About Britain published a treatment for venereal disease advertised in the Herb Garret; it makes interesting reading anyway!

Stefan Jansson said...

Oh, what fun they had back then.

Billy Blue Eyes said...

The more I see of ths place the more I want to visit

PerthDailyPhoto said...

There are a lot of things about days gone by that are appealing Mo,medical 'stuff' not so much :)

Luis Gomez said...

So interesting!

Sharon said...

I'd have a hard time not thinking about the people who suffered so much pain in this room if I visited there. I'll look forward to the instruments. If they are anything like the ones I saw in a museum in Bruges years ago, they will make me cringe.

William Kendall said...

I've seen rooms like this in movies and documentaries- the design is quite familiar. As to the instruments, well, I'm expecting something quite similar to the surgeons kits I've seen at our war museum, so cringing is inevitable!

Jack said...

Very interesting, Mo. You sure find wonderful things to show us!

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