The Old Operating Theatre

The Old Operating Theatre
9a St Thomas Street,
London SE1 9RY

Housed in the attic of the early eighteenth-century church of the old St Thomas’ Hospital, this atmospheric museum offers a unique insight into the history of medicine and surgery.

The original timber framed Herb Garret was once used to dry and store herbs for patients’ medicines and in 1822 an operating theatre was included. Predating anaesthetics and antiseptics, it is the oldest surviving surgical theatre in Europe.

Open Saturdays and Sunday from 10.30