Great Fire Of London Exhibition At The Royal College Of Physicians

Horse dung, hens’ droppings, cat’s foot, pig fat, eggs and plain old red onions: new exhibition at Royal College of Physicians reveals the extraordinary recipes used to treat burn victims of The Great Fire of London

Human tragedy, cultural catastrophe, medical emergency. The Great Fire of London was a final calamity visited on a city weakened by more than three decades of destruction.

‘To fetch out the fire: reviving London 1666’, a new exhibition at the Royal College of Physicians from 01 September to 16 December 2016, marks the 350th anniversary of the devastation of the nation’s capital, taking a doctor’s eye view of the terrible events of three and a half centuries ago.

Using the remarkable collections of the Royal College of Physicians – an institution whose home was burnt to the ground in September 1666 – visitors follow the story of the capital’s 17th century doctors as they were divided by war, battled with plague and almost ruined by flames, only to emerge with hope for the future in magnificent new headquarters designed by scientist and City Surveyor, Robert Hooke. A symbol of London’s resilience and revival.

Original artefacts that miraculously evaded the destruction of the 1660s will go on public display including fascinating archives, precious silver, beautiful antique books and a stunning assembly of portraits, some touched by the fire itself and bearing the scars to prove it.

Highlights include a selection of rare 17th-century recipe books and herbal medical texts detailing common remedies for burns and scalds that may well have been used on the injured of The Great Fire. These unusual and sometimes odious potions open a window onto the decidedly organic medicine of the time.

From the College’s present-day treasures room comes a surviving filigree silver box that once contained a bezoar stone. Taken from the kidneys of antelopes bitten by serpents, these hard lumps were said by ‘quacks’ to ward off the plague that had bedevilled London since the 14th century, a disease that finally disappeared along with the flames of the fire. Nearby are some gold ‘touch pieces’, small coins marked with the image of the archangel Michael and presented by then King Charles I to over 100,000 of his sick subjects at healing ceremonies throughout his reign.

Also on show is a small silver bell, dated 1636, it is thought to be the earliest piece of hallmarked English silver in existence. Rescued from the College’s home at Amen Corner in the shadow of old St Paul’s Cathedral as it was being overtaken by flames, the item is still used today to call for silence during the election of the new President of the Royal College of Physicians.

On loan from The Society of Antiquaries of London is a magnificent oil painting completed in the aftermath of the fire in the style of the Anglo-Dutch school. The image shows old St Paul’s engulfed by flames and the sky consumed by smoke, turning day to night. Recent conservation has revealed that the dark, brooding image caused a later artist to mistake the work for a night time scene, he added a moon and its reflection in the river. Today, a blood orange sun has been restored, the whole vista supporting the testaments of eyewitnesses, also on display, that the conflagration made midday as dark as midnight.

In the final section, the exhibition focuses on the rebuilding of the College and the wider City of London, the designs of Robert Hooke and Christopher Wren, the men who would construct the two greatest buildings of the new capital: St Paul’s and the Royal Bethlem Hospital. Less well known is Hooke’s Royal College of Physicians, a now lost architectural treasure revealed by plans, drawings, a haunting early photograph and contemporary accounts to have been one of the finest flowerings of the resurgent City.

Through objects and testimonies, artworks and medical recipes, ‘To fetch out the fire: reviving London 1666’ presents a compelling perspective on The Great Fire of London, through the eyes of the city’s physicians.

Human tragedy, cultural catastrophe, medical emergency. The fire was the end of a truly turbulent and terrifying period in the capital’s history, this exhibition is an unmissable account of that extraordinary era.

Sarah Backhouse, exhibition curator of ‘To fetch out the fire: reviving London 1666’, said “At the Royal College of Physicians we are incredibly fortunate to be in possession of a collection that spans more than five centuries of London’s history, including good times and bad. The middle part of the 17th century is remarkable as it was both the best of times, for the spirit of intellectual curiosity and advancement, and the worst, for the human misery inflicted by war, plague and fire.

“What’s truly remarkable, and comes across in so many of the items that we’ve been able to put on display this autumn from artworks to personal accounts, silverware to archives, is the determination of the people, physicians included, to carry on living and rebuilding throughout these tumultuous times. In some ways, the exhibition is a tribute to their passion and perseverance, without which the Royal College and, indeed, London as we know it, would not exist today.”

Emma Shepley, senior curator at the museum of the Royal College of Physicians, said “By the time of The Great Fire, the Royal College of Physicians had been in existence for almost 150 years. Yet the College, like so many of the city’s institutions, had been weakened by the terrible events of the mid 17th century. Civil war had inflicted casualties and divided members along political lines, more recently plague had wrought devastation on London, killing perhaps a quarter of the population and, through looting, deprived the College of many of its precious treasures.

“Already facing bankruptcy and strife, the destruction of its home, ravaging of its priceless library and removal of its source of income by the flames that raged through the city in September 1666 could have finished off the Royal College of Physicians forever. But it didn’t. Instead, London’s medical community revived the injured, rebuilt its headquarters and the profession emerged resurgent. It’s a remarkable tale and in many ways a metaphor for the indomitable spirit of London as a whole. We’re incredibly lucky to be able to tell the story today, on the anniversary of The Great Fire, drawing on our remarkable collections that survived this cataclysmic series of events.”

‘To fetch out the fire: reviving London 1666’ – Where and how

‘To fetch out the fire: Reviving London, 1666’ runs at the museum of the Royal College of Physicians from 01 September to 16 December 2016. The exhibition and museum are open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. Admission Free. Please check the website for planned closure dates, special weekend openings, and exhibition events.

Alongside the exhibition, the Royal College of Physicians and its partners are running a programme of events to mark the 350th anniversary of The Great Fire of London. These include the opening lecture and ‘Great Fire Late’ event ‘By permission of heaven: the story of The Great Fire of London’ on Monday 5 September 2016 from 5.30pm.

Great Fire study days ‘Flight from the flames: Recovering London from the Great Fire’ on 05 September 2016 and 05 October 2016 and gallery tours with accompanying historical walks ‘Fire! Plague! Revolution! London 1666: capital of calamities’ on 08 and 22 September and 06 and 27 October.

The exhibition and all events form a part of the official Great Fire 350 commemorations, coordinated by the City of London.