Wellcome Collection
where medicine gets gloriously weird
A free museum about what it means to be human. Medicine, art and a fair amount of the wonderfully macabre, plus the best free reading room in town.
Free to visit · Euston · Euston Square · NW1 2BE
Opening: Tue–Sun 10am–6pm · Thu to 8pm · closed Mon
Wellcome Collection grew out of one man's enormous and slightly mad hoard. Henry Wellcome was a pharma millionaire who collected anything to do with the human body, and what he left behind is now a free museum about medicine, life and what it is to be a person. It is clever, strange and not remotely stuffy.
The permanent galleries are the draw. Being Human looks at bodies, illness and identity in a thoroughly modern way, and the older Medicine Man room is full of genuinely odd objects, Napoleon's toothbrush, ancient surgical tools, shrunken heads, the lot. The temporary shows upstairs are some of the most thoughtful free exhibitions in London.
Then there is the Reading Room, a spiral of books, sofas and curiosities you are free to sit in all day. Nobody minds if you read, work or just stare out of the window. Add the cafe and the excellent shop and you have a whole free afternoon two minutes from a mainline station.
Getting there: Right on Euston Road opposite Euston station, two minutes from Euston Square or a short walk from Euston and Warren Street.
Best time to go: Thursday evening when it stays open late, or any weekday morning. Weekends fill up with the reading-room crowd.
Insider tip: Head straight up to the Reading Room on the first floor. Most people queue for the exhibitions and miss it. There are sofas, free books, odd objects to handle and a window seat over Euston Road that is the best free desk in the area.
Official site: https://wellcomecollection.org
Free things to do in London · London Free Guide