Listings tagged with "Top Museums"

Full of unexpected corners and delightful collections of impressionist paintings, the Courtauld Gallery might just be the perfect place to spend a London afternoon. Their permanent collection includes exquisite works by Seurat, Manet, Degas, Gaugin, Van Gogh and perhaps the best Modigliani nude in the world.

Located down a back corridor and up a small stair well of St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington the the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum offers a sightly lesser known attraction to London's customary museums. Despite its understated appearance, the laboratory is the site of arguably one of the most important events of the twentieth century: Fleming's discovery of penicillin in 1928.

The permanent display at the British Library is astonishing. Literature lovers will be in their element, as will historians, theologians, musicians and anyone who has an interest in the evolution of print over time. 

The Cartoon Museum, one of London's youngest museums, tells a layered and important story. Filled with original cartoons dating back to the 16th century this tiny space is filled with nostalgia and a distinctly English sense of humour. 

For centuries, Southwark enjoyed the dubious reputation of "London's poorer, louder, wickeder neighbour". The Clink Prison Museum tells the story of the one establishment that those flocking to the area's taverns, theatres and brothels would have wanted to avoid.

The restored and re-opened Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper, is now raised off her keel, and visitors can walk beneath her burnished brass hull. The Cutty Sark's jaw-dropping size and ground-breaking design give a real flavour of what life was like on board the ship. A grand day out for the whole family!

The Design Museum opened in 1989 in a converted banana warehouse overlooking the Thames, with a focus on design from the 20th century onwards. The Design Museum covers the evolution of design over a broad spectrum, with exhibitions that are changed around every four months.

The Florence Nightingale Museum is a beautiful space for exploring the life and legacy of one of Britain's most influential women. Set in the grounds of St Thomas' Hospital, it is a hidden gem that is well worth seeking out. It's also a great destination for kids!

20 Maresfield Gardens served as Sigmund Freud's final surrogate home after fleeing the Nazi occupation in Austria in the late 1930s. Now the site of the Freud Museum, this house perfectly preserves Freud's unique work space and notorious couch.

The Geffrye Museum of the Home is dedicated to the history of the English household. Covering a period from 1600 to the present day, and including a series of reconstructed period living rooms and gardens, the Geffrye Museum is a charming walk through time, and through the changing fashions and tastes of the British middle class.

Step into the world of composer George Frideric Handel with a visit to the delightful and evocative museum in his house in London’s Mayfair, the place where some of his most famous works, including ‘Messiah’ and the coronation anthem ‘Zadok the Priest’, were written.

Recently refurbished, the Charles Dickens Museum is a far cry from the doom and gloom of a typical Dickensian dwelling. The interior of 48 Doughty Street is fresh, elegant and full of Victorian quirks.

The Royal Air Force museum is one of the largest and greatest aviation museums in the world, old-fashioned in the most positive sense. There is something here for everyone, from film nerds to anyone interested in history, science or engineering. Next time I go, however, I would give it more time, as you really need a day for this beast. 

This is not your average zoological museum: there appears to be far more material to display than there is room in the Grant Museum of Zoology, so that you are met with unnerving specimens from every angle and from every cabinet. Inviting in its modesty, this collection has an extremely high concentration of interesting specimens per square meter.

Ranking Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, Harry Houdini and fourteen US presidents amongst its members, the three hundred year old Freemason fraternity has quite a controversial reputation to live down. A tour of their grade II listed London Lodge and museum offers an intimate look at the organisation's much speculated symbols and rituals.

The Foundling Museum offers a history of the Foundling Hospital, an institution founded in 1741 which took in and schooled disadvantated children. It's a varied and important collection which also contains works by two important benefactors: William Hogarth and George Frideric Handel.

Wellcome's collections are outstanding in their variety, a testament to his passion for the pursuit of medical knowledge, and just plain fascinating. Whilst the artefacts on display certainly cover the deeply weird and unusual aspects of human nature, they also offer some insightful glimpses into our understanding of our own physicality.

The Geffrye Museum of the Home is dedicated to the history of the English household. Covering a period from 1600 to the present day, and including a series of reconstructed period living rooms and gardens, the Geffrye Museum is a charming walk through time, and through the changing fashions and tastes of the British middle class.

Beginning life as an eleventh century hospital for pilgrims to the Holy Land, the Order of St John's impressive nine hundred year history - from the crusades to its modern incarnation as the St John Ambulance charity - is revealed by a museum which itself is situated in impressive historical surroundings.

The restored and re-opened Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper, is now raised off her keel, and visitors can walk beneath her burnished brass hull. The Cutty Sark's jaw-dropping size and ground-breaking design give a real flavour of what life was like on board the ship. A grand day out for the whole family!

The permanent display at the British Library is astonishing. Literature lovers will be in their element, as will historians, theologians, musicians and anyone who has an interest in the evolution of print over time.