Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret

Not far from the Borough Market, on the way toward the Shard is the Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. After climbing 52 steps up an very narrow spiral staircase we are treated to this attic loft of a Herb Garret filled with 19th century medical instruments and potions.



It is hard to tell, given the general state of medicine in the 19th century, is this potion was intended to stop or induce diarrhea.

The collections of jars give this place the feel of what you always though a chemistry lab was like where you were a child.

The star of the show is the operating theater. I presume it located several stories up to both provide light from the sky and ventilation of the noxious smells it must have produced. Having just read a biography of Joseph Lister, I found this fascinating and disturbing.

Perhaps even more unsettling is the fact that this space is now also used for lectures (about the period and its medicine) and concerts. It is along climb to an uncomfortable seat in a spooky place to hear uplifting music, don't you think?