Florence Nightingale Museum, Medical history museum in South Bank, London
The Florence Nightingale Museum is a medical history museum in South London housed within the original St Thomas' Hospital building. The collection displays nursing tools, personal items, and records that show how hospital care and patient treatment evolved over time.
The museum opened in 1982 to mark the location where Nightingale founded a pioneering nursing training school in 1860 following her experiences during the Crimean War. That school set the foundation for how nurses were trained professionally throughout Britain and beyond.
The museum shows how nursing became a respected profession and shaped daily hospital life during the Victorian era. Visitors see the actual spaces where Nightingale trained her first nurses and witness how care for patients fundamentally changed.
The museum is just a short walk from Waterloo Station, making it easy to reach by public transport. The building has multiple floors with stairs, so wearing comfortable shoes helps when exploring all the exhibits.
The collection preserves the actual oil lamp Nightingale carried during her night rounds, along with her medicine chest and a preserved pet bird. These personal objects bring her daily work to life and reveal small details about how she operated.
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