Freud Museum :: Psychiatry, Museum, Informative

It contains Freud's remarkable collection of antiquities: Egyptian; Greek; Roman and Oriental. Almost two thousand items fill cabinets and are ranged on every surface. There are rows of ancient figures on the desk where Freud wrote until the early hours of the morning. The walls are lined with shelves containing Freud's large library of reference books. The house is also filled with memories of his daughter, Anna, who lived there for 44 years and continued to develop her pioneering psychoanalytic work, especially with children. It was her wish that the house become a museum to honour her illustrious father. The museum is now being developed as a cultural and research center of outstanding value to the professional community. The Freud's were fortunate to be able to bring all their furniture and household effects to London: there were splendid Biedermeier chests, tables and cupboards, and a fine collection of 18th and 19th-century Austrian painted country furniture. Undoubtedly the most famous piece of furniture in all the collection is Freud's psychoanalytic couch, on which all of Freud's patients reclined. The couch is remarkably comfortable and is covered with a richly coloured Iranian rug with chenille cushions piled on top. Other fine Oriental rugs, Heriz and Tabriz, cover the floor and tables. The Freud Museum's central function is to celebrate the life and work of Sigmund and Anna Freud. The museum organises active programmes of research and publication. It has an education service which organizes seminars, conferences and special visits to the museum. There is a shop well-stocked with books on the life and work of Sigmund Freud and books on contemporary psychoanalysis.