Green spaces – and the role plants have played in medicine for millennia – are the focus of a new exhibition at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow this month.
Opening on Sunday 20 September 2026, Dear Green Places will explore the vital role green spaces like Glasgow’s Victorian parks have played as the city’s lungs, and how the principles of ‘green prescribing’ – the use of nature-based activities for health – have been improving wellbeing for centuries.
College President Professor Hany Eteiba said: “The Dear Green Places exhibition takes us back more than 425 years, to the very roots of our College, when our founding members – surgeon Peter Lowe, physician Robert Hamilton and apothecary William Spang – came together with a shared vision: to regulate, advance and innovate medicine in the west of Scotland. That spirit of collaboration and innovation remains at the heart of our College today, as the UK’s only multidisciplinary Royal College.
“Our predecessors understood something that we continue to appreciate today: that nature has an important role to play in healing, and that the plants growing around us could provide the ingredients for medicines. In many ways, this exhibition is a love letter to Glasgow - to its people, its history and its magnificent ‘green lungs’.
“As a frontline interventional cardiologist, I have seen first-hand the profound difference that access to nature and the outdoors can make to our health and wellbeing. Our health is shaped not only by the care we receive in hospitals and clinics, but also by the environments in which we live, work and recover.
“I look forward to welcoming visitors to our historic College and sharing some of the treasures held within our archives. I hope the exhibition will not only reveal something of our medical heritage, but also inspire people to step outside, breathe deeply and discover the many parks, gardens and green spaces that make Glasgow such a special city.”
The exhibition will feature the writings of ancient Greeks including Dioscorides and Hippocrates, and will cover a broad range of subjects, including the development of medieval physic gardens dedicated to cultivating plants with medicinal properties, as well as some peculiar ways our ancestors used to deal with ailments.
The launch follows the success of the College’s permanent Birds of America exhibition in April, which is giving visitors access to one of the world’s rarest – and most beautiful – books.
Clare Harrison, Library and Heritage Manager at the Royal College, said: “When we start planning an exhibition, it gives us the perfect opportunity to revisit our vast archive and historical collections and uncover the stories they hold.
“The herbal books are some of my favourites in our collection. They provide a fascinating insight into the history of medicine, and we can see how this has evolved into modern day practice.
“Visitors will be able to see the oldest book in our collection on display for the first time. From 1479, written by Serapion the Younger, it depicts how herbal medicine was used at the time.
“Another is one of my personal favourites, an 18th-century handwritten notebook of herbal remedies. It was compiled by someone who was probably not formally qualified, but who would have been the local practitioner that people turned to for advice and treatment.
“The notebook contains a remarkable collection of Scottish remedies for everyday ailments, from using ginger to treat a cold to more unusual treatments including cow dung to treat back pain. It offers a rare glimpse into the everyday reality of healthcare in Scotland centuries ago.”
The exhibition takes us right up to modern day and the projects happening around the city which aim to protect and improve access to green spaces. Sustainability is a key area of focus for the College, which aims to be net zero by 2045.
Dr Elizabeth Murphy, Honorary Librarian at the College said: “There is a lot we can learn from our heritage and the role nature has always played in our health.
“We established a Sustainability Steering Group to help the College play its part in addressing climate change. Group Chair, Professor Seshadri Vasan, is an advocate for our shared responsibility to enhance and sustain human and planetary health and is quoted within this exhibit saying that we need to look after Earth, our only home.”
“I hope people come away from the exhibition with an understanding of how important the natural world is to us as healers and why we should actively promote stewardship of the planet and our natural environment.”
Dear Green Places is free to attend and opens on Doors Open Day, Sunday 20 September between 10.00 and 16.00 BST. It will then be open to the public to view every Monday between 14.00-17.00 BST.
Gallery
Photos from the Dear Green Places exhibition at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.
