London is home to some of the greatest museums in the world, and in most cases, the admission is free!
There are charges for some exhibitions, but general entrance will cost you nothing. Try to make a small donation if you can spare it, as museum budgets keep getting cut!
Here’s a list of museums’ websites, opening hours and collection highlights.
The British Museum
An enormous collection spanning the globe from prehistoric to the present.
Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG
Open daily 10:00 – 17:30
Fridays until 20:30
Ptolemaic, Egyptian, The Rosetta Stone, 196 BCE
The National Gallery
Contains the nation’s collection of European art from medieval to modern.
Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
Open daily 10:00-18:00
Fridays until 21:00
Thomas Gainsborough, Mr and Mrs Andrews, 1750
National Portrait Gallery
Dedicated to the art of the portrait, it is a great place to get a sense of who is considered important in modern Britain.
St Martin’s Place
London
WC2H 0HE
Open daily 10:00 -18:00
Thursday, Friday until 21:00
Yousef Karsh, Queen Elizabeth II, 1951
Victoria and Albert Museum
Dedicated to art and design, the V&A contains sculpture, textiles, paintings, jewellery, ceramics, silver, prints, photographs, and the National Art Library.
Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
www.vam.ac.uk
10:00 – 17:45 daily
Fridays until 22:00
Maqsud Kashani, Iran, Ardabil carpet, made for shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din, ca. 1530s
Sir John Soane’s Museum
The architect’s home and collection, displayed in his former townhouse.
13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London
Tuesday – Saturday 10:00-5:00
Open late on first Tuesday of every month for candlelight viewing from 6:00-9:00 pm. Extremely popular, you will have to wait in a very long line, but it is worth it.
William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress, 1733.
The Wallace Collection
Wonderful collection of bronzes, paintings and furniture, displayed in the family home of the Marquesses of Hertford.
Hertford House
Manchester Square
London
W1U 3BN
http://www.wallacecollection.org
Fragonard, The Swing, 1767
Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
open daily 10:00 -17:50
In a wonderful 19th century building, has everything from stuffed bisons to casts of dinosaurs.
The Tates
http://www.tate.org.uk
Comprising Tate Britain, Tate Modern, and Tate Liverpool.
Tate Britain displays the national collection of British art from 1500 to the present day.
Millbank
London SW1P 4RG
http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain
10:00-18:00 daily
British school, 17th century, The Cholmondeley Ladies c. 1600
Tate Modern is the home of international art from ca. 1900 to the present and its displays are thematic.
Bankside
London SE1 9TG
http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern
Sunday-Thursday, 10:00 -18:00
Friday, Saturday, 10:00 – 22:00
Anthony Caro, Emma Dipper, 1977
Some other museums you might like to check out include: The Freud Museum, The Foundling Museum, The Wellcome Collection, The Charles Dickens Museum, The Geffrye Museum, Handel & Hendrix in London, The National Maritime Museum, The Imperial War Museum, The Cartoon Museum, Museum of London Docklands, London Transport Museum, Black Cultural Archives, The Courtauld Gallery, The Whitechapel Gallery, The V&A Childhood Museum, The Sherlock Holmes Museum, Museum of Brands, The Jewish Museum, Keats House… and of course The Museum of London.