A Guide to the Best Museums in London

The British Museum, founded in 1753, is one of the largest and most famous museums in the world, and is open to the public without charge. With a collection of more than 8 million pieces from around the world, although only a small part of the exhibition is on display, it is recommended to spend at least three hours or more on a tour here.

The British Museum has 10 halls, including the Ancient Near East, Coins and Medals, Egypt, Britain, Greece and Rome, Japan, the Far East, Prehistory, Europe, Prints and Drawings, and West Asia. Among them, the Greece and Rome Hall and the Egypt Hall are the most worth visiting.

The £5 voice guide is highly recommended, which only requires a small deposit, and has 11 languages built in, including Chinese.

The National Gallery of the UK, established in 1824, is located at the north of Trafalgar Square and is free to the public. Many paintings of Western Europe from the 13th century to the 19th century are collected here, including masterpieces by well-known artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raffaello, Cézanne, Rubens, and Rembrandt, etc.

Its famous collections include Van Gogh's Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers, Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks, Raffaello's Madonna and Child (The Niccolini-Cowper Madonna, Michelangelo's The Entombment, Rembrandt's Self-portrait, Van Eyck's The Arnolfini Portrait, Velázquez's The Rokeby Venus, etc.

The Natural History Museum in London, whose history can be traced back to 1753, was originally part of the British Museum. Its architecture is absolutely wonderful, almost like a cathedral, with a total area of 40,000 square meters. The museum has more than 70 million natural history collections, including dinosaurs, fossils, animals and plants, and geological samples. The museum is also a famous biological research center.

There are 20 showrooms with five themes: including botany, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology, and zoology. On the left side of the entrance is the famous Dinosaur Pavilion. At the same time, special exhibitions are also held from time to time.

On the last Friday of each month, the opening times of the museum will be extended (except December), and there will be all kinds of night tours in the museum, giving visitors an experience like "Night at the Museum".

The Tate Modern, located next to the Millennium Bridge on the south bank of the Thames, was once part of the National Gallery. Its predecessor was a power station, and its architecture is very unique. The museum has more than 70,000 pieces of modern art and photography, including paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Andy Warhol, Mondrian, Dali, and so on.

The top floor of the Tate Modern is a cafe and rooftop observation platform. You can sit there for a cup of coffee, eat a simple meal, and look out towards the Thames. Normally, there aren't many people there, and the price is reasonable. The Tate faces the Millennium Bridge, and you can go straight to St. Paul's Cathedral on the other side from there.

The Sherlock Holmes Museum, built in 1900, got its name from the character Sherlock Holmes in the books written by British detective novelist Arthur Conan Doyle. No. 221B, Baker Street, where the museum is located, is the residence of Mr. Holmes himself and his accomplice Dr. Watson. The museum mainly shows scenes from the novel, souvenirs, waxwork figures, as well as Holmes' belongings as described in the books.

Here you will find restored scenes and props, and you can even dress up as the characters. However, there are often long lines at the door, so you should mentally prepare yourself to queue up for an hour or more. You can buy the tickets first and then join the line. Tickets and souvenirs are sold in the same place.

The National Portrait Gallery is near Trafalgar Square, behind the National Gallery of Art. There are over 10,000 portraits, sculptures and photographs, including portraits of famous figures and royals in British history. If you're interested, you should check it out.

The peaceful, Victorian style interior of the gallery hosts a collection of over 10,000 pieces of art. The main collections are portraits of British historical figures, such as Shakespeare's portrait. There are also temporary special exhibitions on different subjects in the gallery.

The gallery has collected portraits of historical royalty, such as Queen Victoria and Henry VII. There are also portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William, Prince Harry, and Princess Kate.

The Victoria and Albert Museum was founded in 1852. In 1899, when Queen Victoria held a cornerstone-laying ceremony for the side hall of the museum, the museum was officially renamed the V&A in memory of her husband, Prince Albert.

The museum mainly collects European arts and crafts and decorative arts. The museum collects Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassicism, and other styles of work from the 17th to the 19th century. There is also modern furniture, as well as silverware, glassware, jewelry, and sculptures, etc. In addition, the museum collects rich Asian cultural relics, such as exquisite porcelains and Buddha statues, etc.

Built in 1857, the Science Museum is the world's earliest large-scale science museum, adjacent to the Natural History Museum and the V&A Museum. The museum is provided with many interactive games, and is full of themed displays that can be operated by hand. You can see inventions, such as the wheel-driven loom, the steam engine, marine technology, and early flight experiments, and milestones in the history of human science, such as the cockpit of the Apollo 10 spacecraft.

Moreover, the screen of the IMAX cinema in the Science Museum is as high as four double-decker buses, and is used for playing a number of 3D science movies with themes such as space and the ocean. Its shocking visual effects and breathtaking six-channel surround sound willmake you feel like you are there in person. Recommended Movies.

The UK National Maritime Museum in Greenwich is known as the largest maritime museum in the world. The museum has 16 exhibition halls, displaying many marine cultural relics collected from around the world, including various model ships, marine paintings, nautical instruments, and nautical relics. In addition, the museum also truthfully presents the stories of naval battles, famous navigators and explorers, and even Admiral Nelson.

You can visit the museum, together with other attractions in Greenwich, like the Prime Meridian in the Royal Greenwich Observatory, the Queen's Palace from the 17th century, and Greenwich Fair.

Sir John Soane's Museum is the smallest national museum in the UK, known as the Mini British Museum, which was originally the private house of Sir John Soane, an architect from the late 18th century. The museum has many exquisite personal collections, such as paintings, porcelains, furniture, sculptures, ornaments, etc., as well as a lot of book collections.

On the first Tuesday of each month, the museum conducts a candle night tour from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., which is very popular. Only 200 people may enter the museum from 5:30 p.m. Entrance is decided on a first come, first serve basis.

If you're interested in London's history, you can't miss this museum, which tells you about the UK's history from prehistoric times to London's urban life at present. The museum mainly exhibits London during the Roman Empire, and shows a model reproduction of the Great Fire of London in 1666 and a display of a Victorian street. Both of these are well worth a visit. Some medieval fortresses and several old Roman walls nearby can also be visited.

The HMS Belfast Light Cruiser for military fans! The HMS Belfast Light Cruiser, moored near London Tower Bridge, is an Edinburgh-class light cruiser. It was a prestigious cruiser of the British Royal Navy, and served in World War II. Now, the Belfast has retired from service, and is affiliated with the Imperial War Museum and is open to visitors.

The contents inside the ship are quite rich, including the ship's structure, battle scenes fromWorld War II, displays of life on board, and some other exhibitions, etc. It is recommended by the official that you spend 1.5 hours here.

The Imperial War Museum mainly introduces the history of World War I and World War II, and was designed by Jewish designer Daniel Libeskind. It mainly documents the British Empire's efforts and war sacrifices. The collections in the museum include personal and official files, documents, photos, videos, photographs, oral recordings, books, works of art, military vehicles, and planes, etc.