Bethlem Museum of the Mind facts for kids
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Melancholy and Raving Madness statues
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| Established | 2015 |
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| Location | Bethlem Royal Hospital, Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham, London Borough of Bromley |
| Type | Medical museum, art museum |
The Bethlem Museum of the Mind is a special place that tells the story of Bethlem Royal Hospital. This hospital has a long history of helping people with mental health challenges. The museum shows how care for mental health has changed over time.
The museum opened in 2015. It shares a cool Art Deco building with the Bethlem Gallery. The gallery shows art made by artists who are or were patients at the hospital. The museum is part of a group called the London Museums of Health & Medicine.
What You Can See at the Museum
Inside the museum, you can see amazing artwork by artists who experienced mental health problems. Some of these artists include William Kurelek, Richard Dadd, and Louis Wain. Their art helps us understand different ways of thinking and feeling.
You can also see two famous statues by Caius Gabriel Cibber. These statues are called Raving Madness and Melancholy Madness. They used to stand at the gates of the old Bethlem Hospital back in the 1600s. Other exhibits show how mental healthcare has developed throughout history.
Hospital History and Art
Before 2015, there was a smaller museum at the hospital. It was called the "Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum." This old museum mostly showed items from the hospital's art collection. Because it was so small, only a tiny part of the collection could be seen at one time.
When the new museum opened, its first special art show was about an artist named Bryan Charnley. He was a former patient at Bethlem. His exhibition was called Bryan Charnley: the Art of Schizophrenia.
In April 2016, the museum was nominated for a big award called the Museum of the Year. Other famous museums like the Victoria and Albert Museum were also nominated. This showed how important and well-regarded the Bethlem Museum of the Mind had become.
Looking at Old Records
The museum also keeps many old documents and records. These are called archives. They come from Bethlem Hospital, Maudsley Hospital, and Warlingham Park Hospital. Some records from Bridewell Hospital are also kept here.
These documents go all the way back to the 1500s! If you want to look at them, you can make an appointment. However, some recent patient records are kept private to protect people's information.
