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Based in a clean white 1930s building beside Tower Bridge, this museum is the only one in Britain devoted to 20th- and 21st-century design. Regularly changing exhibitions feature the very best of modern design from the museum’s collection, including both product and graphic design, fashion, furniture, architecture and engineering.

In this museum, which is housed in part of the former Bethlehem (“Bedlam”) Hospital for the Insane, a clock in the basement moves remorselessly on, recording the world’s war dead – a figure that has now reached 100 million. Six million of them are commemorated in the Holocaust Exhibition. Other displays include evocative re-creations of World War I trench warfare and the life of Londoners during the World War II Blitz. Now it is “total war” that we have to contemplate, and this, too, is explored.

This majestic mansion with interiors designed by Robert Adam has a small but important collection comprising 17th-century Dutch and Flemish works, 18th-century English portraits, and a small French Rococo section. There are statues by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth in the extensive grounds.

In this former flower-market building, the history of London’s transport system is illustrated with posters, photographs and examples of early buses, tubes and horse-drawn vehicles. There are also interactive “KidZones” for children.

The world’s largest maritime museum, perfectly located in part of Wren’s Royal Naval Hospital, has much to offer. The 1805 Battle of Trafalgar is re-enacted, and Admiral Nelson’s fatally pierced tunic is on display. Antarctic expeditions are recalled and there is a collection of boats, from coracles to royal barges. State-of-the-art simulators give an idea of modern navigation and what it was like when theTitanicwent down.