Visitors to a Hampstead museum are invited to lie down on a replica of Sigmund Freud's famous couch - created for a major movie starring Sir Anthony Hopkins.

The original couch used in the father of psychoanalysis' Vienna consulting rooms now sits in The Freud Museum. Freud brought it to London when he fled Nazi oppression in 1938, and spent the last year of his life in Hampstead.

A full replica of the house in Maresfield Gardens was created in a Dublin studio for Freud's Last Session, which sees Hopkins as an ageing Freud debating the existence of God with children's author C.S Lewis. (Matthew Goode)

Ham & High: Sir Anthony Hopkins with the replica couch in the background.Sir Anthony Hopkins with the replica couch in the background. (Image: Patrick Redmond/Last Session Productions Ltd)Now, the prop couch is part of a new exhibition at The Freud Museum; A Century of the Ego and the Id. Narrated by Liv Lisa Fries, who plays Freud's daughter Anna in the film, it celebrates the centenary of the publication of Freud’s influential work, which introduced many of his famous theories.

Giuseppe Albano, Director of the Freud Museum London, said, “We’re inviting visitors into Freud’s London home, to delve a little deeper into the Freudian universe, while reclining on a perfect replica of his famous psychoanalytic couch.

"People are very welcome to take to the couch and reflect on Freud’s theories, perhaps pondering their own stories or the experiences of the more than 500 patients who were psychoanalysed by Freud on his couch."

Ham & High: Freud brought the original couch where he analysed scores of patients with him when he fled Vienna in 1938 and moved to HampsteadFreud brought the original couch where he analysed scores of patients with him when he fled Vienna in 1938 and moved to Hampstead (Image: K Urbaniak)

"While the original couch will remain downstairs in Freud’s study, just as it was when he lived here, the ‘new’ couch will sit upstairs awaiting visitors for an inspirational and truly unique lie-down. We are excited to be able to give people an exclusive early insight into Freud’s Last Session ahead of the film’s release.”

Freud wrote The Ego and The Id in the Vienna apartment where he lived for 47 years, and objects and photographs from the Freud family archive will reconstruct the flat's interior in the museum's upstairs rooms.

Freud's Last Session is released by Sony Pictures Classics in USA cinemas in late December, with a UK release following in the new year.

Ham & High: Is it a Doppelganger? The replica of the famous couch will be upstairs at The Freud Museum Hampstead from December 1 for visitors to lie onIs it a Doppelganger? The replica of the famous couch will be upstairs at The Freud Museum Hampstead from December 1 for visitors to lie on (Image: The Freud Museum)

A Century of the Ego and the Id runs at The Freud Museum, December 1 - May 31 2024 at the Freud Museum London, 20 Maresfield Gardens.