Museums

Most museums in London now have free entry!

The Natural History Museum

One of the world’s finest and largest museums of natural history with hundreds of exhibits, many interactive, ranges from the volcano experience to the dinosaurs exhibition. Creepy-Crawlies exhibition, blue whale, earths treasury, dinosaurs and so on. You can join highlight and themed guided tours of the Museum, which start near the Life Galleries entrance.

Science Museum

The Science Museum is one of three British museums which, with the National Railway Museum, York and the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford which together are the National Museum of Science & Industry (NMSI). The Science Museum first opened in 1857, as the South Kensington Museum, on land purchased with the profits from the Great Exhibition of 1851. At the Science Museum visitors can experience the major scientific advances of the past 300 years. There are over 40 galleries with the world's finest collections in science history technology and medicine offer over thousands of interactive exhibits with many permanent displays. From working steam engines to Apollo 10.

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum is on Cromwell Road in Kensington and specialises in applied and decorative arts. The museum was established in 1852 as the South Kensington Museum following the success of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Its Director was Sir Henry Cole, joint organiser of the Great Exhibition who acquired some of the objects from the Exhibition for the Collection. Over the years the Museum attracted many important Collections to it. Originally, it contained both arts and sciences and was designed to inspire visitors with examples of achievement in both fields. It was believed at the time that this would help improve the tastes of consumers, manufacturers and designers, creating a virtuous circle that would benefit the culture and the economy. The Museum has a wide range of collections of European, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Islamic decorative arts. It has galleries for sculpture, jewellery, glass, church plate, weapons, armour, costume, textiles, musical instruments, wrought iron, stained glass, metalwork, ceramics, furniture, architecture, photography, British watercolour artists and much more.

Tate Gallery

The original Tate art gallery was officially titled the National Gallery of British Art. Upon his death J.M.W. Turner had left the contents of his studio to the nation, approximately 2000 paintings and drawings. The National Gallery could not display the gift as Turner requested and this triggered a national debate about the creation of a gallery of British Art. Eventually Henry Tate who as well as a sugar magnate was a major collector of Victorian academic art offered to fund the building of the gallery to house British Art as long as the state pay for the site and revenue costs. Tate also gifted the gallery his own collection.

Madame Tussauds

Mix with the stars at the world famous collection of realistic wax figures in specially designed settings, 200 Years, Superstars, Sports Heroes, Famous Actors, The Grand Hall, The Chamber of Horrors and The Spirit of London. Madame Tussauds have special exhibitions from time to time.

Tel: +44(0)208 384 1866    Fax:+44(0)208 384 2176    24hr:+44(0)7850 766 230