Museum of the History of Medicine

Updated on September 30, 2026

On the second floor of the former Faculty of Medicine, now the headquarters of Université Paris Cité, the Museum of the History of Medicine displays more than 1,500 historical instruments. Its collections, begun in the 18th century, trace the history of medicine and surgery from Antiquity to the 20th century. The room, fitted out in 1905, has kept its wooden display cases and two levels of galleries. The museum is in the sixth arrondissement, a few minutes from the Odéon crossroads.

Highlights

The 1905 room

A glass roof lights the long room lined with galleries and ornate balustrades. The original display cases hold the collections, and busts of physicians punctuate the visit.

Instruments and medical kits

The cases bring together surgical instruments, physicians’ kits and physiology apparatus. The collection includes the kit of Dr Antommarchi, who performed Napoleon’s autopsy on Saint Helena, and a military surgeon’s kit found on the battlefield of Waterloo.

Gondoin’s façade

The building was designed by architect Jacques Gondoin and built between 1769 and 1775 for the School of Surgery. Take time to look at its Ionic colonnade along the street: this early 20th-century postcard shows how little it has changed.

Infos pratiques

Tips

Tickets cost €3.50, or €2.50 at the reduced rate; entry is free for under-12s (prices checked in September 2026). Tickets are sold on site only, in cash or by card. The museum sometimes closes for a few days, for example while an exhibition is being installed: check its page on the Université Paris Cité website before you go.

How to get there

Metro Odéon, lines 4 and 10; Cluny–La Sorbonne, line 10. RER B and C Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame. Buses 58, 63, 70, 86, 87 and 96, Saint-Germain–Odéon stop. Address: 12 rue de l’École de Médecine, 75006 Paris.