Organised Tours and Groups

A visit to the Foundling Museum is an enjoyable and engaging experience. We welcome group visits, guided or unguided. If you are interested in booking a self led school group visit please click here.

The Foundling Museum explores the history of the Foundling Hospital, the UK’s first children’s charity and England’s first public art gallery, and celebrates the ways in which artists of all disciplines have helped improve children’s lives for over 270 years. We show an internationally renowned collection of paintings and sculpture by artists including Hogarth, Reynolds and Gainsborough, set amongst furniture and fittings from the original Hospital building. Artefacts from the Hospital’s archive include ‘tokens’ left by mothers with their babies, as means of identification, should they ever return to claim their children. The Museum also owns the Gerald Coke Handel Collection that includes Handel’s will, eighteenth-century music manuscripts and an important collection of ephemera.

Guided Tours
Whether your group has a special area of interest, or wishes to have an overview of the Collections, our experienced guides can help. Guides can take a maximum of 25 people on a tour during opening hours. If your group is larger, we can organise two tours beginning within fifteen minutes of eachother. Entry and guided tour: £8 per person.

Group Bookings and Self Guided Tours
Groups of more than 8 people, who book in advance, qualify for the discounted group rate of £5 per person (£5.50 with Gift Aid)

If you would like an exclusive guided tour, our Hogarth Curator Lars Tharp, provides an insightful introduction to the Foundling Museum and it's Collections. A ceramics historian, William Hogarth enthusiast, arts consultant and broadcaster, Lars recently celebrated his 25th season on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. Additional charges apply, please express interest on your booking form. Find out more about Lars Tharp here.

To make a group booking please complete this form.

The Foundling Museum Cafe

Refreshments, tea, coffee, light lunches and cream teas are available at the Foundling Museum’s Cafe. The Museum Café offers a special groups menu for groups of 10 people and more. Refreshments can be pre-booked by contacting the Café directly +44 (0)20 7841 3609.

Please note the Foundling Museum and the Museum Café are closed on Mondays.