Foundling Museum

Foundling Museum
The museum's façade, Brunswick Square. A statue of Thomas Coram is to the far right.
Foundling Museum is located in Central London
Foundling Museum
Location within Central London
Established2004; 20 years ago (2004)[1]
LocationBrunswick Square
London, WC1
United Kingdom
Coordinates51°31′31″N 0°07′18″W / 51.525278°N 0.121667°W / 51.525278; -0.121667
TypeArt gallery, Museum [1]
Visitorsc. 40,000 per year[2]
DirectorEmma Ridgway[3]
Public transit accessLondon Underground Russell Square
Websitefoundlingmuseum.org.uk

The Foundling Museum in Brunswick Square, London, tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, Britain's first home for children at risk of abandonment. The museum houses the nationally important Foundling Hospital Collection as well as the Gerald Coke Handel Collection, an internationally important collection of material relating to Handel and his contemporaries. After a major building refurbishment, the museum was reopened to the public in June 2004.

The museum explores the history of the Foundling Hospital, which continues today as the children's charity Coram.[4] Artists such as William Hogarth and the composer George Frideric Handel are central to the Hospital story and today the museum celebrates the ways in which creative people have helped improve children's lives for over 275 years. It is a member of The London Museums of Health & Medicine group.[5]

  1. ^ a b The Foundling Museum: About, ARTINFO, 2008, retrieved 11 July 2008[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Foundling Museum, registered charity no. 1071167". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  3. ^ Official website of the Foundling Museum
  4. ^ The Foundling Museum Guide Book, Second edition, 2009
  5. ^ "Medical Museums". medicalmuseums.org. Retrieved 26 August 2016.