London's Wellcome Exhibit
Collector Henry Solomon Shares 100,000 Health & Medicine Artefacts
London's new visitor attraction draws on art, science and history to show how medicine has developed from ancient times to the modern day.
London's Wellcome Collection opened on 21 June 2007 at 183 Euston Road and during its first month had more than 25,000 visitors. Almost 1,000 took part in public events and tours. Exhibits are displayed in contemporary, experimental and interactive ways to make visitors to think about their own health and how medicine has developed through the ages. Housed in three galleries, 1300 intriguing exhibits explore health and medicine through art, science and history.
Henry Solomon Wellcome
The museum is the result of a lifetime's collecting by American-born scientist Henry Solomon Wellcome. After some early scientific experiments he decided his future was in science and eventually graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy before making England his home. Equipped with his degree Wellcome moved to England in 1879.
He went into business with an old college friend, Silas Mainville Burroughs, and subsequently became a British subject in 1910. During his life Wellcome travelled widely and acquired in excess of 100,000 artefacts relating to health and medicine.
Wellcome Special Exhibitions – “The Heart”
Of the three galleries the “Special Exhibition” area is the largest. This space will host temporary exhibitions and “The Heart” is the temporary exhibition for summer 2007. Since this is a museum dedicated to medicine you might expect an examination of the heart to be limited to its physical attributes. Not so!
The heart enjoys a cultural importance in almost every culture and the exhibition explores why we are so unwilling to abandon the idea that the heart is the home of our emotions. The theme is explored through ancient and modern artefacts from the Egyptian Book of the Dead right through to the latest machinery that replaces the heart during heart surgery.
The Wellcome Collection also offers guided tours, day courses and family events. For example: “From the Heart” is an interactive workshop for all ages using music, movement and photographs. Internationally acclaimed performers Eugene Skeef, Roxana Pope and Jonny Wilson will guide participants through the unique experience of playing, moving and making beats to music from the heart.
It’s not just the human heart that comes under scrutiny. Children might be fascinated to discover that a sperm whale’s heart beats as slowly as 10 times a minute but the heart of a hovering hummingbird beats at 1200 per minute.
Papworth Hospital Interactive Heart Surgery Broadcasts
During “The Heart” exhibition the Wellcome will be showing interactive broadcasts of live surgery in co-operation with Papworth Hospital (leading UK centre for heart/lung surgery). Visitors to the Wellcome will be able to put questions direct to the surgeons as they operate.
"The Heart" ends on 16 September and will be followed by "Sleeping and Dreaming". This new temporary exhibition will run from 29th November to10th March 2008. We spend a third of our lives asleep and the exhibition will combine art and medical science to explore sleep.
“Medicine Man”
“Medicine Man” is one of two permanent exhibitions. This gallery looks at the history of medicine and also highlights the incredible range of items that Henry Wellcome collected from 19th century Japanese sex aids to Napoleon's toothbrush! In this interactive exhibit visitors are invited to open drawers and panels to discover more about Wellcome’s fascinating world.
“Medicine Now”
“Medicine Now” looks at modern medicine through science, art and popular culture.Because the science of medicine is such a vast topic the exhibition focuses on specific areas such as the body, malaria and obesity. Each topic is explored through exhibits from science and everyday life.
When Sir Henry Wellcome started his collection all those years ago his mission was to establish a museum of man and he has certainly succeeded. The Wellcome Collection now stands as a tribute to that aim and should be on the wish-list of every London visitor.
The Wellcome Collection is located at 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE. For more information visit the web site or telephone +44 (0) 20 7611 2222.
