DK Travel : London : Museums & Galleries

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British Museum

The oldest museum in the world, and one of London’s most fascinating, contains treasures and artifacts from all over the world.
Clockmakers Museum

The Clockmaker’s Museum is well-signposted in the Guildhall – by following the signs past a couple of security checks I managed to avoid gate-crashing a traffic-planning meeting and a farewell lunch in the rooms between the main entrance and the museum. The museum itself is small and full of interesting clocks – lots of ticking and tocking and, shortly after my ten-to-twelve arrival, plenty of chiming and cogs whirring. Noon is definitely the time to be there.

The museum’s exhibits are beautifully-presented and clearly-annotated. There is plenty of intricate craftsmanship to be seen, and the skill on display is quite impressive. I am not a clock expert, but I did enjoy some of the annotations (clearly aimed at more-knowledgeable people than me). There is the nautical deck-watch with its silver case. Flat spiral balance spring with stud on a flexible arm an interesting feature. I also appreciated the “Verge escapement worm and wheel regulator” of a smaller clock.

The historical context of London clockmaking is also interesting. My favourite exhibit is of the clock taken by William Parry on the ship “Hecla” during his failed attempt to reach the North Pole in 1827. I also liked a small presentation of watch keys – in the shape of “two pistols, a skull, a horse’s hoof, a fox mask, a pomegranate, a hand, and an eagle”.

The museum is open from 9:30am to 4:45pm, Monday to Saturday. Impressively, it is also closed “briefly from time to time for re-winding”. I enjoyed my short visit, and would recommend the museum to passers-by, or to anyone with some interest in clocks and clockmaking.
Courtauld Institute Gallery

From Fra Angelico to Van Gogh, this is a complete art course in one manageable gallery. The core of the collection is the country’s finest Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works, amassed by a textile magnate, Samuel Courtauld (1876–1947). Many of them are instantly recognisable: Manet’sBar at the Folies-Bergère , Van Gogh’sSelf Portrait With Bandaged Ear , Gauguin’sTeRerioa and Manet’sDéjeuner sur L’Herbe .Visit Somerset House’s fountain courtyard and riverside terrace café for a drink afterwards.
Design Museum

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.
Dulwich Picture Gallery

If you have time, this suburban gallery is well worth a short train journey. Britain’s oldest art gallery, which had a face-lift for the Millennium, was opened in 1817. The important collection includes Murillo’sFlower Girl , Poussin’sTriumph of David and Rembrandt’sGirl at the Window .
Haunch of Venison

This gallery is set back off the street in it's own alley way and always has some unique works on display. The gallery is more like a house where one spiral staircase gives way to another floor of works and once up, you go down to a 1/2 level where there are a few more select works on display. It is not very large mind you, and the work displayed is very select, but this gallerie's choosy style is a bonus for tired eyes, fatigued of seeing quantity over quality.
Hunterian Museum

Fascinating collection not only of specimens, skeletons, surgical instruments and so on, but also some rather good paintings, recently reopened and well presented
Imperial War Museum

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.
Kenwood House

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.
London’s Transport Museum

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.