Foundling Museum
The Foundling Museum explores the history of the Foundling Hospital, the UK’s first children’s charity, established by the philanthropist Captain Thomas Coram, and celebrates the ways in which artists of all disciplines have helped improve children’s lives for over 270 years. The Museum does this through a dynamic programme of temporary exhibitions, collection displays, artists’ projects, concerts, events and learning activities for all ages.
The Foundling Museum stands on the site of the original Foundling Hospital, which was built in the 1740s and demolished in the 1920s. It shows an internationally renowned collection of music, paintings and sculpture set amongst furniture and fittings from the original Hospital building, including the exquisite rococo Court Room. Also on display are artefacts from the Hospital archive admission records, uniforms, lesson plans and apprenticeship documents – that give a sense of what life was like for the foundlings. Amongst the most poignant, are the petitions and ‘tokens’ left by mothers with their babies, as means of identification, should they ever return to claim their children.
Visit www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk
Contact Us
Foundling Museum
40 Brunswick Square
London
WC1N 1AZ
Tel. 020 7841 3600
Visitor Information
Opening Hours
Tuesday-Saturday, 10:00-17:00
Sunday, 11:00-17:00
Christmas opening hours: Closed 24, 25 and 26, 31 December and 1, 2 January 2013.
Admission
Facilities
Café
Shop
Education service
Guided tours
Accessibility: Full disabled access
King's Cross/St Pancras
Russell Square/King's Cross/St Pancras
Exhibitions
Fate, Hope & Charity
The hidden stories of the Foundling Hospital tokens
25 January - 19 May 2013
Fate, Hope & Charity brings to light the untold stories of the Foundling Hospital tokens, small everyday objects, left by mothers with their babies at the Hospital between c.1741-1760. Now over 250 years later, the tokens are reunited with the foundlings to whom they belonged. Fate, Hope & Charity reveals poignant stories of separation and offers a glimpse into the lives of ordinary women in the 18th century.
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