Appropriately, the museum dedicated to the founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale is located in St Thomas’ Hospital in South Bank central London and is a part of Museums of Health and Medicine around the city. To experience the museum and London in all its manifestations stay at Citadines St Marks London. The exhibits designed around the themes of her privileged childhood and the world of the Victorians, her experiences in running a military hospital during the Crimean War and her campaign for healthcare reform provides plenty of thought provoking information.
The museum’s collection of some of Florence’s personal effects, the history behind the Crimean War, innovations and improvements made in nursing by Florence Nightingale, Nurse Ann Morton’s sketches of the hospital and nurses at work in the Scutari hospital are rare glimpses into a very different time. The museum also has the original register of nurses who went out to Crimea and material on the Nightingale training school. The digitized register offers an opportunity to read every page. Little known but equally important work of Alexis Soyer a chef who went out to Scutari on his own accord and helped to change the diet in the hospital, improved hospital kitchens, came up with new menus from standard army rations and designed better field cooking equipment is also highlighted here. Information on the Selimiye barracks at Scutari where the British army was stationed, that is now the head quarters of the Turkish First Army, provide the exhibits with the necessary background. In keeping with the theme of nursing, the museum runs programs on the development of nursing from the late 19th century to the present highlighting the changes in healthcare. Visitors can place their audio guide stethoscopes on audio hotspots around the museum to hear the voices of Florence, her contemporaries and critics. Although one may never truly discover the person behind the legend, visitors will get to know her contributions that changed healthcare forever. The well appointed living and working spaces offered by London serviced apartments of Citadenes St Marks is a convenient base for city exploration.
Thanuja Silva is a travel writer who writes under the pen name Auburn Silver. She has a passion for fashion and a deep interest in admiring new and exotic attractions around the world.
