Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum
The small museum displays a remarkable collection of pictures by artists who have suffered from mental disorder, including Richard Dadd, Vaslav Nijinsky and Louis Wain: also the statues of 'Raving and Melancholy Madness' from the gates of 17th century Bedlam, and other material relating to the history of psychiatry. The archives contain records of the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals from the sixteenth century on. Visit www.bethlemheritage.org.uk for more information. The Bethlem Blog provides news and historical information.
The Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum also features in our Learning section.
Contact Us
Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum
Monks Orchard Road
Beckenham
Kent
BR3 3BX
Tel. 020 3228 4307/4227
Fax. 020 3228 4045
Visitor Information
Monday-Friday, 09:30-16:30
Saturday openings: for 2013: 6 April, 4 May, 1 June, 6 July and 3 August 11:00-17:00
Closed public holidays, and occasionally at other times. Please phone before a visit to confirm opening times.
Archives open by appointment only.
Admission free but donations welcome.
Charing Cross to Eden Park, Victoria to East Croydon
(From East Croydon) 119, 194, 198, 356 (from Eden Park)Exhibitions
Current & Forthcoming Exhibitions
28 February - 7 June 2013
The Archives & Museum recently participated in the Public Catalogue Foundation's project to record all works of art in oil, acrylic and tempure in public ownership and make them available via the BBC's 'Your Paintings' website. A selection of the works included in the project will be on display in the museum throughout the Spring and Summer of 2013.
Location: Bethlem Museum
Monday - Friday, 9.30 - 4.30 and selected Saturdays
Admission: Free
Tell Us About Your Visit
Brilliant in every way! 18 July 2009
We were visiting from the states and found this museum to be a GREAT day out!
mrs 30 August 2012
i am very interested in the hospital, i was intriuged as to whether you ever had your own cemetery, burial grounds or anything like that,, in passed years ?
- Click for more information:
- Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum
- Anaesthesia Heritage Centre
- Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives & Museum
- BDA Dental Museum
- British Optical Association Museum
- British Red Cross Museum & Archives
- Chelsea Physic Garden
- Florence Nightingale Museum
- Foundling Museum
- Freud Museum
- Great Ormond Street Hospital Museum
- Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability
- Museum of the Order of St John
- Old Operating Theatre & Herb Garret
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- Royal College of Physicians Museum
- Royal College of Surgeons Hunterian Museum
- Royal London Hospital Museum & Archives
- Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum
- Royal Society of Medicine
- Science Museum
- St Bartholomew's Hospital Museum & Archives
- Wellcome Collection
- Wellcome Library
- Worshipful Society of Apothecaries