One of the many things London does well is museums, with the city home to some of the finest.
Year-round you will find countless permanent and temporary exhibitions honouring art, natural history, the advance of science, cutting-edge design, architecture, photography and fictional – yet much-admired detectives. The best advice when in the capital is to plan your sightseeing and museum visits per area, allowing yourself to see as much as possible while easing logistics. Not to be missed are Hope the huge Blue Whale skeleton at the Natural History Museum, eclectic collections at the Victoria and Alfred Museum, walls of precious books at the British Library and the historic Cutty Sark sailing ship. Whatever your interest and obsession, London has you covered!
The BusinessClass.com guide to the ten Best Museums in London:
1. The British Museum
The British Museum’s displays have been unparalleled since it opened in 1759. Located in the Bloomsbury area of London, the museum’s permanent collection includes a comprehensive eight million works that document the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present. The expansive glass-and-steel ceiling lets light into the atrium-like Great Court and onto the blinding-white, sweeping staircases and marble walls. One of the capital’s most attractive museum spaces, it has sprawling galleries devoted to the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans.
Artefacts here include the revered Rosetta Stone, Lewis Chessmen, Pantheon Marbles and over 120 Egyptian mummies, making it one of the city’s most-visited attractions in the city. The world-famous Egyptian stone and key to deciphering the hieroglyphs is found at the British Museum too. If history, a touch of the unknown, history and culture are what interest you, this is the one for you.
Address: British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG
Where to stay: One Aldwych
2. Science Museum
The Science Museum brings you everything mankind has ever imagined and more! Importantly you don’t have to be a physics or chemistry enthusiast to have an incredible time there. Founded in 1857, the building house hands-on interactive exhibits, crazy inventions from throughout history and gleaming machines. The exhibits, many of them interactive, are arranged in galleries across the seven floors and hold a record of scientific, technological and medical advancement from across the globe.
Find the ‘Information Age’ exhibition from where the Queen sent her first tweet, signed ‘Elizabeth R’. Along with longstanding favourites such as Wonderlab, Pattern Pod and Exploring Space you’ll find the new exhibition and stunning IMAX documentaries. Other highlights include a sixteenth-century artificial arm and a cross-section of a real-life Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. Children love it and there’s no shortage of fun to be had, specifically in the virtual reality space.
Address: Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD
Where to stay: The Kensington Hotel
3. Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria & Albert Museum is a vibrant hub of decorative art, design, fashion and textiles in South Kensington. Queen Victoria herself laid the foundation stone in 1899 and it is today one of the world’s largest art and design museums, also arguably London’s most glamorous with the glorious red-brick building itself well worth a visit. The museum has more than 100 galleries displaying everything from photography to jewellery.
The collection is broken down into topics—fashion, theatre, furniture, architecture—and all are comprehensive, usually spanning several hundred years. The permanent collection contains 2.3 million objects, and you could easily spend a day walking through browsing them. The V&A shop has a selection of books, Asian art and materials related to design, theatre and performance on sale.
Address: Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
Where to stay: Bulgari Hotel London
4. Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum in South Kensington is located within a vast gothic building that resembles a grand cathedral. Home to a fascinating collection of over 80 million specimens that offer insight into the natural world from the beginning of time, the museum is known in particular for its dinosaur exhibits, and displays covering the fields of botany, entomology, mineralogy and zoology.
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The Natural History Museum was originally opened to the public in 1881 with a collection amassed by 17th-century physician and botanist, Hans Sloane as its basis. Highlights include the first edition of Charles Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ and casts from Pompeii, as well as a preserved dodo, giant sequoia tree, and much more. The museum doubles up as a world-class research institution. Inside the revamped and splendid Hintze Hall, you’ll find ‘Hope’ – an enormous blue-whale skeleton that hangs above the information desk. Other categories include Ocean, Space, Human Evolution and British Wildlife. The museum also houses exhibitions such as The Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
Address: Cromwell Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 5BD
Where to stay: Mandarin Oriental London
5. Imperial War Museum
The Imperial War Museum is dedicated to conserving, displaying and interpreting stories of some of the most devastating conflicts in human history. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was initially intended to record the civil and military war efforts of Britain and its Empire during the First World War, and explore the role of British troops in them. It is also the first museum in the world to house a Second World War exhibit and a profoundly moving Holocaust gallery under one roof.
The insightful Curiosities of War exhibit is particularly thought-provoking. Temporary displays explore more recent conflicts and terrorist attacks. Housed in what was once the site of Bethlem Royal Hospital and psychiatric facility. Spanning two floors, the vast galleries bring to life the stories of real people and their experiences. Seeing the war through their eyes is a sobering experience and the museum isn’t recommended for children under 14 years old.
Address: Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ
Where to stay: Shangri La, The Shard London
6. Cutty Sark
Cutty Sark is a much-celebrated historic sailing ship and visitor attraction in Greenwich, London. Built on the River Leven in Scotland in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line in 1869, her purpose was to carry tea back from China. The Cutty Sark is known to have visited nearly every major port in the world and gained fame for its record-breaking passage under her Master Richard Woodget. Representing the pinnacle of clipper ship design, she became the dominant ship bringing wool from Australia to England.
On a visit, picture yourself as the captain taking the helm and marvel at the towering masts and 11 miles of rigging. Go inside the authentic and immaculately preserved piece of history and meet the colourful cast of characters who tell their story of what life was like on board at the time and the work that has gone into conserving the boat for future generations. Cutty Sark is part of Royal Museums Greenwich which includes the Royal Observatory, National Maritime Museum and the Queen's House.
Address: King William Walk, London SE10 9HT
Where to stay: The Savoy
7. British Library
The stately British Library is one of the largest libraries in the world. Formed by the British Library Act and opened in 1973, for much of the 20th century its contents were divided among the British Museum library – with some 12 million volumes, and several other buildings. In 1997–98 a new complex was opened near St. Pancras Station with the express purpose of unifying the vast collection. Its special offerings include the Oriental and India Office Collections, the National Sound Archive, printed music, a library of maps, and other fascinating historical materials and it now holds more than 170 million items.
These include over 13 million printed and electronic books and hundreds of thousands of periodicals, microfilms, and rare manuscripts. Pride of place as the oldest book in the house goes to the Chinese oracle bones, which date back to approximately 1500 BC. The library is also home to the Magna Carta, and there are handwritten Beatles lyrics among the 400 miles of shelves laden with literary treasures.
Address: 96 Euston Rd, London NW1 2DB
Where to stay: Kimpton Fitzroy London
8. Sir John Soane’s Museum
Sir John Soane’s Museum is the London home of the renowned architect who designed the Bank of England, Dulwich Picture Gallery and numerous other significant buildings in England. During his lifetime (1753-1837) Soane obsessively collected art, furniture and ornamentals, in the nineteenth century turning his house into a museum to which he proclaimed students and amateurs should always have access. This is the amazing result. Apart from the collections, the building structure itself is extraordinary.
Mirrors channel and direct daylight, and walls open out like cabinets and paintings by Canaletto, Turner, and Hogarth hang on the walls. The Monument Court contains a delicate alabaster sarcophagus carved for the pharaoh Seti I (1291-78 BC). Kept as it was at the time of his death in 1837, the museum displays his vast collection of antiquities, sculptures, architectural models and paintings. On the Highlights Tour, gain entry to Soane’s private apartments and Model Room, where a guide will talk you through the numerous collections in the museum.
Address: Sir John Soane's Museum, 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, Holborn, London WC2A 3BP
Where to stay: Rosewood, London
9. Design Museum
The Design Museum in London is a sheer inspiration! Founded by Sir Terence Conran in 1989 and relocated to Kensington in 2016, it hosts cutting-edge contemporary exhibitions that range from fashion and graphics to architecture and industrial design. There are fascinating displays of past, present and future designs on show in the pop-ups and temporary shows, and the museum hosts a range of learning programmes and activities aimed at children as well as opportunities for young people to attend creative workshops.
Permanent collections include ‘Designer, Maker, User’ – a dazzling introduction to modern design that includes 1,000 objects that illustrate 20th and 21st-century architectural engineering – and offers a teaser of what the future holds. The building itself is minimalist with considered oak and marble which further enhances the colourful exhibitions.
Address: The Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG
Where to stay: The Cadogan, a Belmond Hotel
10. Sherlock Holmes Museum
The Sherlock Holmes Museum is a privately run museum dedicated to the famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, and to be honest – London would be short-changing us if it didn’t have one. The museum was founded in 1989, on a site as close to that described by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as possible, until it managed to claim the address 221B Baker Street as its own. A splendid four-storey Georgian townhouse dating back to 1815, the Sherlock Holmes Museum building was once a lodging house but is now listed to protect its architectural and cultural heritage. The interior lovingly recreates the gas-lit world of the iconic detective.
Immerse yourself in a treasure trove of items relating to Sherlock and the famous cases he solved including murder weapons, Victoriana and waxworks depicting scenes from the stories. Upstairs in Mrs Hudson’s room is a folder of letters addressed to Holmes by fans from around the world. On your visit, you're likely to be greeted by a respectable-looking man in a bowler hat and whiskers – whom you may assume to be Doctor Watson.
Address: 221b Baker St, London NW1 6XE
Where to stay: Sherlock Holmes Hotel
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