Not too many museums are named after doctors, or are located in old insane asylums, so you’d be crazy to not visit this next museum. Located in Belgium’s oldest psychiatric hospital (built in 1857), the Museum Dr Guislain in Ghent has been open to the public for almost thirty years. From exorcism to shock therapy, everything one would expect to be part of such a collection is here. Visitors can see the primitive tools used during skull trephination to modern-day medicinal treatments like lithium to the then connection of mental illness and eating disorders/fasting (as you can see in the above photos). There is a display of photographs of the mentally-ill dating dating back to 1860. The museum also explores the cultural attitudes of what is considered “normal” with a permanent display of outsider art. In case you didn’t already know, Guislain was a pioneer in psychiatry as he was one of the first doctors to believe that insanity could be treated like any other disease. He drew up plans for an asylum in 1824 but it was not constructed until 1857. The asylum represented a huge shift in how the mentally ill were treated. Instead of isolated, cold cells where such people were commonly jailed, this new hospital included peaceful inner courtyards, gardens and workshops.
Museum Dr Guislain in Ghent, Belgium
