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.
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 .
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.
Museum of London

This comprehensive museum located near the Barbican Centre provides a detailed account of London life from prehistoric times to the present day. It is particularly strong on Roman Londinium, but also has a model re-creating the Great Fire of 1666 and a reconstruction of a Victorian street including several original shopfronts.
National Maritime Museum

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.
Natural History Museum

Life on Earth and the Earth itself are vividly explained here using hundreds of traditional and interactive exhibits.