The Foundling Museum
Telling the story of a ground-breaking eighteenth-century institution, housed in historic interiors on its original site.
40 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AZ
Facilities
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Accessible loos
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Accessible parking
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Charged parking
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Easily accessible without car
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Facilities for children
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Mostly wheelchair accessible
The museum is fully accessible.
The Foundling Museum has more than 275 years of history permeating its objects, stories, and spaces. It tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, which was established in 1739 by the philanthropist Thomas Coram, to care for babies at risk of abandonment.
The Foundling Hospital was the UK’s first children’s charity and became its first public art gallery. It was transformed into one of London’s most fashionable venues by the artist William Hogarth, who encouraged leading artists to donate their work and by the composer George Frideric Handel, who held annual benefit concerts of Messiah in its chapel.
Today the collection includes paintings, drawings, sculptures, furniture, clocks and ceramics. Highlights range from tiny, touching identifying tokens left by mothers with their babies to composer George Frideric Handel’s Will. Artworks on display include work by outstanding contemporary artists like Yinka Shonibare, Tracey Emin and Michael Craig-Martin, as well as those made and donated nearly three centuries earlier by William Hogarth, Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds.
Our Gerald Coke Handel Collection is a major research resource for study of the composer and philanthropist George Frideric Handel and his contemporaries. More than 14,000 items include manuscripts, printed music, books, artworks, sound recordings and ephemera.
During its two centuries in operation, the Foundling Hospital looked after a remarkable 25,000 children. The Museum opened in 2004, fifty years after the Foundling Hospital placed its last pupil in foster care. The Museum building is situated in the grounds of the old hospital at 40 Brunswick Square in Bloomsbury (near to Russell Square tube station). It was constructed in the 1930s, and incorporates many architectural features from the original eighteenth-century hospital building.
Visit the Museum to discover the story of the Foundling Hospital, the children who lived there, and its vibrant community of artists, musicians and supporters through its galleries and historic rooms.
Please note: The information on the Historic Houses website is advisory, but please always check the website of the house or garden you intend to visit before travelling.
- Tuesday to Saturday: 10am to 5pm
- Sunday: 11am to 5pm
- Closed on Monday
Historic Houses members visit free
- Adult: £9.50 (£10.50 including Gift Aid donation)
- Concessions: £7.50 (£8.25 including Gift Aid donation)
- Under-21s: free
- 1-14 visitors: £7.50pp + £70.00 for the guide (includes VAT)
- 15-20 visitors: £12.50pp (includes Museum admission + guide)
- Self-guided visit for 8-20 visitors £7.50pp
Under 21s visit free.
The museum is fully accessible.
Getting here
40 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AZ
Four-minute walk from Russell Square tube station, 10 minute walk from Euston and Kings Cross mainline stations. The nearest buses are the 7, 59, 68, 91, 98, 168 and 188 from Russell Square Station. Cycle docking stations for Santander Cycle Hire are located at Brunswick Square and Russell Square Station. For visitors wishing to travel by car there is an NCP carpark at The Brunswick Shopping Centre.
