A £3.1 million project has involved the complete redisplay and interpretation of the Hunterian Museum.  Over 3,000 anatomical and biological specimens collected by the surgeon and naturalist John Hunter (1728-1793) form the physical and intellectual core of a museum which now explores the science and art of surgery over the past four centuries.  Other new galleries reveal the evolution of modern surgery, drawing together the perspectives of both patients and surgeons. While continuing to serve the needs of medical teaching and research, the

Museum actively promotes public interest in and understanding of a collection previously considered suitable only for medical professionals, and as such, offers a model to other institutions looking to find new uses and audiences for specialist collections.

The new Hunterian Museum is no longer an archaic, private resource for surgeons maintained out of a sense of duty, but a ‘shop window’ on to their work. By hosting public lectures on current issues in surgery and supporting workshops to encourage students from more diverse backgrounds to consider medicine as a career, the Museum is playing an active role in shaping the surgical profession for the future.
Since re-opening in February 2005 over 23,000 people have visited, a 100% increase on the same period before redevelopment.

The project was funded by the Royal College of Surgeons, the Wellcome Trust and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

A selection of your comments

I visited the Hunterian Museum, yesterday and felt I had to let the organisers of the Gulbenkian Prize know how wonderful the Museum is. I have always had an interest in medical history, but I was overwhelmed by the content and passion of this exhibition. The Art section in itself is worth seeing. I was also amazed that such a fantastic exhibition is free to the public. I wanted to congratulate the Museum and I hope they have a good chance of winning the prize as I know they could put it to such great use.
Lela Nair, London – 19 April

I am delighted to learn that the Hunterian Museum has been short-listed for the Gulbenkian Prize in 2006.  The recent re-display of the collection is wonderful; it makes the collections more accessible to all types of visitors - including those who think they have seen it all before!  I applaud their work and congratulate the judges on helping to focus the spotlight on this wonderful museum.
Dr Liba Taub, Whipple Museum of the History of Science, University of Cambridge – 23 April

Making a museum on the human body in a scholarly environment is definitively among the most difficult museological challenges. One has to cope with difficult issues - the integrity of the human body, and the process of trial and error of scientific research - and merge this into an exhibition on a delicate subject, which is in harmony with the scholarly status of the RCS and open to an ever broader, more demanding and less tolerant public of very different backgrounds.  The Hunterian Museum has managed to combine these three components in a sublime way, transforming the old cabinet into a modern - above all welcoming - museum on the human body. The Hunterian has set the standard - internationally - for the years to come! An outstanding achievement, worthy of the prize!
Steven de Clercq, Vice-Chair of the International Committee on University Museums and Collections, Maarssen, Netherlands – 25 April

The transformation wrought by the changes to the museum is little short of spectacular, and the themed displays on various aspects of surgery are clear and easy to follow, with well informed volunteers on hand to guide and answer visitor's questions. This beautifully presented and illuminated space contains specimens as old and as important in their own way as some paintings on permanent exhibit in the National and National Portrait Galleries, and as such the museum should rank high as one of the places to visit in London.
Philip, East Sussex – 27 April

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