Guillermo Del Toro praises London’s Hunterian Museum as ‘one of the best in the world’

Oscar-winning film director Guillermo del Toro has encouraged the public to visit London’s Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, “one of the top three collections in the world”, as it launches its new free digital guide. 

Hosted on the app Bloomberg Connects, which hosts hundreds of leading museums and cultural spaces, the free-to-download guide allows users across the globe to virtually explore the space with an interactive map and listen to new audio commentary.

The Shape of Water and Pan’s Labyrinth director — who visits the Hunterian Museum every time he’s in London — delivers a video message on the guide, in which he says: “The way the museum has been redesigned [the museum re-opened in May, following a six-year closure] makes the experience even more compelling. This is one of the best museums and one of the top three collections in the world.

“It’s provoking, inspiring, and challenging, and it opens new horizons both narratively and in terms of science and imagination; it fuses the two. The way the museum has been re-arranged is towards you getting an experience that you will never forget. You will see not only the discoveries and the curiosities that fuel them but also the world and the universe in all its strange possibilities.”

The guide — helping users explore the displays and discover exhibition highlights — features a British Sign Language (BSL) Tour of the museum. The guide is fully accessible with audio transcripts and alternative text. The app is also integrated with Google Translate, allowing translation into over 100 languages.

Dawn Kemp, Director of Museums and Special Collections at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said, “I am delighted by Guillermo del Toro’s endorsement of the Hunterian Museum. He creates extraordinary films that make us see and experience life and the world differently. They encourage curiosity, a fitting association with the Hunterian, founded on the comparative anatomy collection of the 18th-century surgeon and anatomist John Hunter.”

The Hunterian Museum displays over 2,000 anatomical preparations from John Hunter’s collection, alongside instruments, equipment, models, paintings, and archive material, tracing the art and science of surgery from ancient times to the present day.

Notes to editors:

1. The video of Guillermo del Toro is available upon request, or the MP4 can be downloaded here.
2.  For more information: https://hunterianmuseum.org/visit/digital-guide
3.  BSL tour of the Hunterian Museum: https://hunterianmuseum.org/digital-hunterian/video-library/bsl-hunterian-museum-tour
4. The Hunterian Museum has a long association with the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Following John Hunter’s death in 1793, the UK Government bought his museum of 14,000 specimens and preparations and, in 1799, gave it into the safekeeping of the Company of Surgeons (later the Royal College of Surgeons of England) for medical education and training. The independent Board of Trustees of the Hunterian Collection was established to oversee the long-term care and use of Hunter’s Collection. The new building erected in Lincoln’s Inn Fields to accommodate the Museum first opened in May 1813.
5. The Royal College of Surgeons of England provides world-class education, assessment, and development to 30,000 surgeons, dental professionals and members of the wider surgical and dental care teams at all stages of their careers. Our vision is to see excellent surgical care for everyone. We do this by setting professional standards, facilitating research and championing the best outcomes for patients.
6. For more information about the Hunterian Museum, please contact the Royal College of Surgeons of England Press Office: Telephone: 0207 869 6047/6054; Email: pressoffice@rcseng.ac.uk; Out-of-hours media enquiries: 0207 869 6056.