Surgeons' Hall Museum

Inside Edinburgh’s Surgeons’ Hall Museum, the history of medicine is told through the objects surgeons used and the human remains they studied. Its collections grew from a teaching museum established by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, whose history dates back to 1505. The Wohl Pathology Museum contains preserved anatomical specimens that reveal disease and the structure of the human body. Elsewhere, surgical instruments, dental artefacts and historical displays trace the development of surgery and medical science. The collections offer a fascinating but sometimes unsettling look at how medical knowledge advanced, including the ethical questions surrounding anatomy and the use of human remains.