MUSEUM

Musée de l'Histoire de la Médecine

Université Paris Descartes - 12 rue de l'École de Médecine - 75006 Paris Musée d'Orsay - Saint-Germain-des-Prés

The museum collections (the oldest in Europe) are presented in a splendid room built between 1905 and 1907 in a wing added by the architect Ginain to the "Collège de Chirurgie" (surgery school), one of the finest 18th-century buildings built by the architect Jacques Gondoin. At the time of the Revolution, with the abolition of guilds, the Collège de Chirurgie was closed. It was not until 1795 that medical teachings were again dispensed "to the students of the homeland" at the école de Santé, but a museum on the history of medecine was still not on the agenda. The instruments were stored in an attic. In 1890 the subject was raised, but the doyen Debove was opposed to it. The museum finally opened in 1955, installed in this elegant room, decorated with wood panelling embedded with portraits of famous doctors and surgeons, most painted in the 18th century. As well as the surgical instruments collected by the doyen Lafaye in the 18th century, there is a considerable collection of pieces covering the different branches of the art of surgery up to the end of the 19th century.