Events
We’ll be celebrating throughout 2023 with a really wide variety of Barts900 events from concerts to banquets, art exhibitions to lectures and much more, hosted by the Barts900 partners at prestigious, world-renowned venues across London and beyond.
See the calendar to find out more about each event on the partner websites. Maps and links for the venues are at the bottom of the page.
A history of Barts, Britain’s oldest hospital
A lecture given at Gresham College by our CEO Professor Charles Knight OBE on the fascinating 900 year history of the hospital
Missed it? Catch up with the Barts900 Seminar Series
Robert Treharne Jones hosts an exclusive series of live and on-demand discussions illuminating the story of Barts.
The story of View Day
Our annual View Day celebration goes all the way back to Henry VIII. Find out how it began and how we celebrate view day to this day.
2023 calendar
June
Until Wednesday 5th July
Outdoor exhibition: Life and death in the archives, 1123-2023
Until 7th June / Guildhall Yard
8th June – 5th July / Aldgate Square
A free outdoor exhibition of photography, art and history from the archives and collections of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, held by Barts Health NHS Trust Archives.
In 2023 St Bartholomew’s Hospital celebrates opening its doors to Londoners for 900 years. It is the oldest hospital still running on the same site in England.
The hospital’s archives tell the story of this unbroken history. From the famous to the forgotten, London lives fly from the pages of Barts’ ancient ledgers, with stories of crisis and caring, miracle and mayhem, living and loss, agony and healing.
The exhibition draws on the unique historic collections of St Bartholomew’s Hospital to tell new stories. Ancient account books, medieval marginalia, records, maps, art, diaries and photographs reveal the individuals who worked, lived and died at Barts.
The exhibition tours to open spaces in the city during summer 2023, moving to Aldgate Square after the Guildhall Yard. The exhibition will also display key stories in Barts Hospital’s King George V building throughout summer and autumn 2023.
Saturday 3rd
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
West London (Syon Park) tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Sunday 4th
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
Surrey (Shepperton) tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Tuesday 6th
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
Oxfordshire (Henley) tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Wednesday 7th
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
Hampshire & West Dorset tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Sunday 11th
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
Sussex (Brighton) tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Wednesday 14th
900 Years of Music and Medicine
An entertainment exploring a miscellany of connections between medical practice, doctors and music, and including three new commissions specially for this event.
The evening will portray doctors both real and fictional and tell medical anecdotes through history with gravity and humour. City Music Foundation Patron Simon Callow will narrate, and 18 CMF artists will be performing.
The programme will include three new works – a fanfare, a song cycle and a work about William Harvey – as well as music by Bach, Handel, Borodin, Cole Porter and Tom Lehrer.
Book tickets
Barts Great Hall, North Wing, located in the grounds of St Bartholomew’s Hospital
Wednesday 14th
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
Bedfordshire tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Saturday 17th
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
West Yorkshire tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Sunday 18th
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
Herefordshire tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Tuesday 20th
Art and Disease. How were patients diagnosed before the invention of blood tests?
How would you diagnose a patient without a blood test? Put your analytical and diagnostic skills to the test in this interactive workshop.
Get your free tickets here on Eventbrite
Barts Great Hall, North Wing located in the grounds of St Bartholomew’s Hospital
Tuesday 20th
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
Cambridgeshire tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Monday 26th
Barts Academic Choir and Orchestra
Handel’s Messiah, 7:30 pm. Tickets on the door (cash only) £15 and £10 concessions.
Barts Great Hall, North Wing, located in the grounds of St Bartholomew’s Hospital
Wednesday 28th
The Musical Heart, Cardiac health and pathology through a musical lens
A lecture performance that explores two kinds of synergies between music and cardiology: one from mapping of arrhythmia to music, and another from music-induced cardiac responses. Both show music as a powerful instrument for gaining insights into cardiac arrhythmias and heart health.
Presented by: Elaine Chew, Professor of Engineering, King’s College London and Pier Lambiase, Cardiology Consultant and CV Research Co-Director, Barts Heart Centre and Professor of Cardiology, University College London
Get your free tickets here on Eventbrite
Morris Lecture Theatre, Robin Brook Centre, Located in the grounds of St Bartholomew’s Hospital
July
Saturday 1st
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
Gloucestershire tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
August
September
October
Sunday 1st
Barts Hike for Health
Barts Hike for Health is now live and open for registrations on the Barts Charity website.
We’d love it if you signed up to join us and help make as much noise as possible around this event.
It would also be amazing if you can also share this with your family and friends and on your social media channels 🙏
For Trust and charity staff there is a discount code NHS50 – this will give you 50% off the registration fee. You just need to add this code at the shopping cart stage during the registration process.
Sign up on the Barts Charity website
Barts courtyard
Wednesday 18th
Music is Medicine for the Soul: A Concert in Celebration of Barts 900
Vital Arts, the in-house arts service for Barts Health NHS Trust, brings you a concert of songs and arias performed by Soprano Caroline Kennedy, accompanied by Pianist Iain Farrington at The Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great.
This concert forms an extension to the performances Kennedy will be bringing to Barts patients, staff and visitors this summer as part of Vital Arts programming for Barts 900.
All proceeds from the sale of the tickets will support the work of Vital Arts.
Buy tickets at Eventbrite
St Bartholomew the Great
December
2023 – past events
January
February
Friday 24th
Architectural History Conference
Exploring the architectural history of Barts Hospital and St Bartholomew the Great with the British Archaeological Association.
Barts Great Hall
March
Throughout March
900 Years in 900 Stories
Open to the public until the end of March on display at the foot of the Hogarth Stair (entrance through the Hospital Museum), North Wing, St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
Medical Education and Mayhem
Exhibition curated by the Queen Mary Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Archivist, about student experiences at St Bartholomew’s Medical College. Explore archival records from as early as the 17th century; from the record of the first students, to snowball fights, and the admission of female students.
West Smithfield Library is open 12 – 8pm Monday to Friday.
Tuesday 7th
A Girl in a Forest of Men
A hybrid in-person and live broadcast lecture with Professor Dame Parveen Kumar.
Dame Parveen’s story will resonate with medical professionals across all generations, and in conversation with Robert Treharne Jones, she will talk about her early life, and her career, which has led to her current position as a world authority in medicine and an inspirational leader.
Henry VIII Room, North Wing, St Bartholomew’s Hospital
Wednesday 22nd
BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong
On Wednesday the 22nd of March at 4:00 PM, Radio 3 Evensong will be broadcast live from St Barts the Great, to mark our 900th anniversary.
Members of the public are welcome to attend, although do note that you must be in your seat by 3:45 PM, so they can prepare the recording equipment.
St Bartholomew the Great
Thursday 23rd
Barts900 Foundation Day Symposium
Robin Brook Education Centre, St Bartholomew’s Hospital
Join Barts Health NHS Trust and Queen Mary University of London in celebrating the 900th anniversary of hospital’s founding. This all-day event will feature short talks and panel discussions under five distinct themes exploring the history, work, and impact of the hospital and the medical school.
Reserve a free spot
Friday 24th
Foundation Day Staff & Volunteers Celebrations
Open to staff and volunteers only.
The Atrium, KGV Building, St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
Friday 24th
Bart’s Health Archives Open Day
11 am – 2 pm
Drop in to Barts Health NHS Trust Archives, Kenton and Lucas Block (Entrance C) to explore a display of items from the St Bartholomew’s Hospital collection spanning nine centuries and find out more!
Kenton & Lucas Archives search room, St Bartholomew’s Hospital
Saturday 25th
St. Bartholomew the Great & Hospital 900th Anniversary Procession & Service
March 25th, 2023 marks exactly 900 years since the laying of the foundation stone of St Bartholomew’s Priory and and Hospital. The two institutions survive to this day and will be celebrating the anniversary in style.
At 3:00 PM there will be a procession starting in the Hospital Courtyard and will lead to a festal Eucharist in the church. The procession will mark historically significant locations along the route – with a brass band. There will be two brand new musical compositions for this service. After the service there will be a drinks reception to celebrate the anniversary.
Book tickets
St Bartholomew the Great
April
May
Thursday 4th
Barts900 Alumni Lunch in the Great Hall
For Barts men and women who graduated between 1966-69. There are still some places available so those interested should email Professor Mike Keighley
North Wing, St Bartholomew’s Hospital
Wednesday 10th
Service of Thanksgiving and Reception on View Day 2023
Closed event/by invitation only, 4:45 pm
St Paul’s Cathedral
Wednesday 10th May – June 7th
Outdoor exhibition: Life and death in the archives, 1123-2023
Runs until Tuesday June 6th / Guildhall Yard
A free outdoor exhibition of photography, art and history from the archives and collections of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, held by Barts Health NHS Trust Archives.
In 2023 St Bartholomew’s Hospital celebrates opening its doors to Londoners for 900 years. It is the oldest hospital still running on the same site in England.
The hospital’s archives tell the story of this unbroken history. From the famous to the forgotten, London lives fly from the pages of Barts’ ancient ledgers, with stories of crisis and caring, miracle and mayhem, living and loss, agony and healing.
The exhibition draws on the unique historic collections of St Bartholomew’s Hospital to tell new stories. Ancient account books, medieval marginalia, records, maps, art, diaries and photographs reveal the individuals who worked, lived and died at Barts.
The exhibition tours to open spaces in the city during summer 2023, moving to Aldgate Square after the Guildhall Yard. The exhibition will also display key stories in Barts Hospital’s King George V building throughout summer and autumn 2023.
Sunday 14th
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
Cheshire (Nantwich) tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Thursday 18th
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
Essex (Bishop Stortford)
tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
Somerset & Bristol Area tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Tuesday 23rd
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
Kent (Faversham) tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Wednesday 24th
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
Derbyshire / Lincolnshire / Nottinghamshire / South Yorkshire tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Thursday 25th
Barts League of Nurses’ Afternoon Teas
Cornwall (Truro) tea@bartsleagueofnurses.org
MEMBERS ONLY – booking details
Event venues
St Bartholomew the Great
London’s oldest parish church, at the heart of Smithfield, was built when Henry I, son of William the Conqueror, was King of England.
Robin Brook Centre
Education Centre with lecture theatre in the grounds of St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
Barts Great Hall, North Wing
Located in the grounds of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London’s oldest hospital boasts one of its most extraordinary venues in the Great Hall.
Access via the Henry VIII Gate on West Smithfield at the end of Giltspur Street.
Guildhall
Home to the City of London Corporation with impressive Grade I-listed interiors, and publicly accessible Yard.
Barnard’s Inn Hall
Established as an Inn of Chancery in 1454 – parts of the original building can still be seen in the Council Chamber.
Barts Health NHS Trust
Delivering safe and compassionate care at
St Bartholomew’s Hospital, The Royal London Hospital, Mile End Hospital, Whipps Cross Hospital and Newham Hospital.
Royal Albert Hall
Iconic London venue hosting memorable performances in music, dance and more since 1871.
Aldgate Square
Publicly accessible space next to Aldgate underground station.
West Smithfield Library
St John’s Gate
Publicly accessible space next to Aldgate underground station.
St Bartholomew the Less
The only parish church physically situated within a hospital.