Join us to explore the role scent has played in medical history and take part in fun festive crafts.
Join us to explore the role scent has played in medical history through recipe books and medical objects in the ‘Healing words’ exhibition, and take part in fun festive crafts.
Scents have paid a crucial role in medical history once thought to be both spreaders of, and protectors from, disease. Discover the theories behind the concept of bad air and how physicians and everyday folks protected themselves using sweet scents. Many of the key scents we would recognise today as also associated with Christmas, including cloves, orange peel, nutmeg and cinnamon.
We will be open from 5.30pm–8pm for visitors to drop in and join a short talk exploring scent in the Healing words exhibition will be held at 6pm and 7pm on the gallery. Take part in fun activities including diagnosing the historic disease and guess the scent. Create your own dried or fresh pomanders that look and smell great as Christmas tree decorations or gifts.
Healing words explores the RCP’s collection of recipe books, an extraordinary resource showing how people lived in early modern England, and how healthcare functioned outside of the formal medical sphere. The books show us how medicine was understood and practiced at community level. They are glimpses into a world in which communities were self-sufficient, and people were intimately connected to one another, the land, the seasons and the cosmos. Their contents contributed to the very survival of families and communities.
The wider museum will also be open late that evening including our Treasures Room, portrait collections and anatomical tables.
Regent's Perk café will be open for drinks throughout the evening.
Get a National Art Pass and explore Royal College of Physicians Museum
You'll see more art and your membership will help museums across the UK
Visitor information
Address
The Royal College Of Physicians, 11 St Andrews Place, Regents Park, London, Greater London, NW1 4LE
020 3075 1510
Opening times
Mon – Fri, 9am – 5pm and until 8pm on the first Thursday of the month.
Closed the month of August for maintenance and conservation work, public holidays and for RCP major events and ceremonies. Please check the 'Closure dates’ on our website before planning your visit.
Visitor information
What else is on at Royal College of Physicians Museum
Events nearby
The more you see, the more we do.
The National Art Pass lets you enjoy free entry to hundreds of museums, galleries and historic places across the UK, while raising money to support them.