Jeremy Bentham's Auto-Icon
the philosopher who never left
The preserved, dressed and seated body of the philosopher Jeremy Bentham, on free display in a glass case at UCL.
Free to visit · Bloomsbury · Euston Square · WC1E 6BT
Opening: When UCL's main building is open · check access
The philosopher Jeremy Bentham, founder of utilitarianism and a guiding spirit behind University College London, left unusual instructions in his will. His body was to be preserved, dressed in his own clothes and put on display as what he called an Auto-Icon, a self-image, as a memorial and a typically rational gesture against superstition about death.
Nearly two hundred years on, there he sits in a glass case at UCL, complete with his walking stick. His real head proved too gruesome to display and is kept safely elsewhere, replaced by a wax one. It is free to visit, genuinely uncanny, and one of the most extraordinary things to see in any London university.
Getting there: In the Student Centre at University College London, near Euston Square.
Best time to go: A weekday during term, when the building is open to visitors.
Insider tip: He sits in a glass case in the UCL Student Centre, free to view when the building is open during the week. The wax head on his shoulders is a stand-in, his real mummified head was retired after one too many student pranks.
Free things to do in London · London Free Guide