The Museum of the Order of St John

The unique and fascinating story of an ancient religious military Order, from its origins caring for sick pilgrims in eleventh century Jerusalem, through to its modern-day role with St John Ambulance, the international first aid charity.

What our visitors say

  • "Lovely visit, my 5 year old son enjoyed the children's activity trail which we did together - very engaging, thank you!"
  • "Thank you to the kind man at reception who helped with Dad’s wheelchair! Great museum!"
  • "St John Ambulance saved my life on 1st March 2015 so I came here to learn more. Keep up the good work!"

News and events

The Museum is currently closed, but we're open online...

The Museum, its buildings and Cloister Garden are currently closed, but we are working behind the scenes to get ready to welcome you back in 2021.  

We are sharing stories from the collections over on our social media channels so do visit us online or send enquiries to museum@sja.org.uk. 

Thank you for supporting the work of the Museum of the Order of St John, we look forward to seeing you again soon. 

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Culture Recovery Fund

16.10.20
We are delighted to announce that at the beginning of this week we were awarded a grant from the government’s Culture Recovery Fund so that we can continue to be #HereForCulture. We are grateful to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, HM Treasury and Arts Council England for this support.
If you would like to receive updates on our work, please sign up for our e-newsletter at the bottom of this page, or follow us on social media.
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  • View of the interior of the Priory Church of the Order of St John The Priory Church of the Order of St John. Photography by Shaun Le Gassick
  • View of the interior of the Crypt of the Priory Church of the Order of St John The Crypt. Photography by Shaun Le Gassick
  • View of the Link Gallery of the Museum of the Order of St John The Link Gallery. © MOSJ
  • ALT= The Cloister Garden. © MOSJ
  • ALT= The Chapter Hall. © MOSJ

Blog

Photograph of people standing in a car park holding signs that together read "We volunteer for you. Please stay home for us." Volunteers and staff at Mountbatten House send out a message to the public on social media.
Uncategorized

Museum staff support St John Ambulance's Covid-19 response

Posted 18 September 2020
Museum of the Order of St John Rachel Job, collections and engagement assistant

Following the temporary closure of the Museum in mid-March, some Museum staff were redeployed into other roles in order to help St John Ambulance support the NHS in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Museum assistant Rachel Job went to work at... Read more

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St John Youth

The History of the Badgers and Cadets

Posted 7 April 2020
Museum of the Order of St John Rachel Job, Museum Assistant

[caption id="attachment_10983" align="alignright" width="712"] All five siblings of the Pring family from Bristol were St John Ambulance Cadets and were photographed together for the St John Review April 1977[/caption] 2022 will mark the... Read more

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A poster with a painted image of a book in front of medical items suck as pill bottles with 'THE CURE OF BOOKS' in red block capitals. The Cure of Books Poster, LDOSJ SJA2076
Posters, Books

Get Well Soon

Posted 6 April 2020
Museum of the Order of St John Jessica Swift, Museum Assistant

St John Ambulance, since its establishment in 1877, has been dedicated to caring for others. While the most well-known and well-established part of St John’s caregiving has been in the training and providing of first aid, our volunteers,... Read more

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Isole di Malta, olim Melita c.1689, CORONELLI. From the Museum's Collection.
Watercolours

The Watercolour World

Posted 2 April 2020
Museum of the Order of St John

In 2017 the Museum of the Order of St John, with public and private collections around the world, was invited to contribute to a new online resource of watercolours from before 1900. The Watercolour World would create a visual history of the... Read more

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Uncategorized

Becoming an autism-friendly museum

Posted 30 March 2020
Museum of the Order of St John Rachel Job, museum assistant

At least 1 in 100 people have autism. Over the past few months, we have been working to make our museum more autism friendly. We have invested in new resources, run our first autism-friendly family activity, created visual stories, had autism... Read more

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Sponsors

The Museum of the Order of St John would like to thank all those who have supported and continue to support its work. In particular, the Museum would like to thank the following for their generosity: