City
London’s picture room, church roof and underground mail
Movable picture planes let a small London room display 118 paintings; a church roof-space became a women’s operating theatre, and underground mail systems used different propulsion.
At a glance
A place worth remembering
A small room with movable picture planes
Sir John Soane’s Museum says movable picture planes let the 13-by-12-foot Picture Room (about 4 by 3.7 metres) display 118 paintings. For some fragile works, the museum displays facsimiles while originals are protected from light or undergoing restoration.[1]
From herb garret to operating theatre
The Old Operating Theatre Museum occupies the roof-level garret of St Thomas’ Church in Southwark. During the 18th century, a hospital apothecary used it to dry medicinal plants. The museum dates its conversion into an operating theatre for women patients to 1822.[2]
Fans and electric cars underground
The Postal Museum dates pneumatic-railway trials to 1863: engine-powered fans moved mail carriages through a tunnel. Mail Rail was a different underground line; it opened in 1927 and carried letters in driverless electric cars until 2003.[3]
Good to know
A few clear answers before you explore.
How did the Picture Room display so many paintings?
The museum says movable planes let its small room display 118 paintings.[1]
What did the church roof-space hold before the theatre?
It served as a hospital herb store; the apothecary dried plants there for treatments.[2]
What powered the two underground mail systems?
The pneumatic trial used fans; Mail Rail used driverless electric cars.[3]
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