Museums in London are magic, pure magic. Forget about dusty spaces that give an eerie feeling with old stuff (though we like them too). Imagine treasure troves where the past whispers and breathes.
History buff or just a visitor looking to spend an hour, London has got art galleries and spaces that flip the entire idea of what a museum can be right on its head. Unlike in other big cities, many of these museums won’t cost you a penny to get in.
Taking your pick from hundreds of beckoning cultural gems, is tough. Of course, you can make your trip by visiting big museums with colossal collections and buzzy exhibitions. It means though, you will miss the little art spots showing you the real London art scene, off the beaten path.
The British Museum
Step into the Great Court of the British Museum and you will find yourself under a magnificent glass roof. Sunlight spills in, catching on the white stone façade. It’s the largest covered public square in Europe, but that is just the start.
The British Museum isn’t just a building with old things inside. It’s a place where time folds in on itself. One moment you are watching a film about the ancient Egyptians. The next you are staring at an actual mummy. Touching the cool protective glass means your fingers are just inches away from objects that people made and used thousands of years ago.
The British Museum can get quite crowded. Go early, or swing by on a Friday evening when the museum stays open late and the crowds thin out.
The Garden Museum
This gem – quietly sitting in the Lambeth Palace is hidden from plain sight. It´s located inside the medieval church of St Mary-at-Lambeth, where plant hunters John Tradescant the elder and younger are buried.
The museum houses paintings, tools, and ephemera that pay homage to our beautiful relationship with gardening. We are talking botanical watercolours to old-school lawnmowers. It is a long story of British obsession with gardens. Spend a minute or two in the 17th-century knot garden (a brainchild of architect Dan Pearson).
Twist Museum
London is a city of paradoxes. A world’s financial nerve centre where the unfathomably rich cross paths with folks willing to live in dainty flats with six mates because they’re proud to call the city home. With many respects, Twist Museum represents this paradoxical side of London like no other cultural spot. It is built on top of optical illusions to put a near-magical world in front of the viewers. A world where barely anything makes sense but everything feels real at the same time.
Like many beautiful things that tickle our perception and entertain our imagination, the collection uses a blend of technology, science, and design art at its best. Smartphone touchscreens, for example, engage electromagnetic sensors and artful design to mimic our gestures, while video and online casino games, including those you can find on this website, use graphic design, animation, and technology to simulate real-world scenarios and themes. The same goes at Twisted Museum which offers immersive experience through technology and optical illusions.
The Museum of the Home
Museum of the Home, formerly known as the Geffrye Museum, invites you into the living rooms of Londoners across the centuries. It is housed in a row of 18th-century almshouses, and the main attraction is the series of period rooms showing how middle-class Londoners lived from 1600 to the present day. You’ll walk through a 1630s oak-panelled hall, then a Georgian parlour, followed by Victorian and 20th-century living spaces. Each room is frozen in time, with authentic furniture, textiles, and decorations.
The Design Museum
The Design Museum is located in a modernist building in Kensington that is in and of itself quite a sight. Its sleek, concrete curves and wooden accents are a fitting place for a home celebrating design.
You will find everything here – from a classic Vespa scooter, to sustainable packaging, iconic typography, and plenty else in between. The permanent display Designer Maker User takes you through the whole process of design, from initial concept to eventual use.
The Wallace Collection
The Wallace Collection is housed in Hertford House, a townhouse once home to the Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace. Open the door and you will step into the world of aristocratic splendour and artistic riches.
The collection includes 18th-century French paintings, furniture, porcelain, arms and armour. The walls are decorated with masterpieces by Rembrandt, Velázquez, and Titian. You’ll get the feeling as if you are wandering through someone’s (exceptionally grand) home rather than a museum.
The Victoria & Albert Museum
The V&A, as it’s affectionately known, is a treasure house of global art and design. Its seven miles of galleries contain everything from ancient Chinese ceramics to contemporary fashion and medieval tapestries to modern photographs. The museum itself is a work of art, with its Victorian architecture and tiled café (the first museum restaurant in the world)
What makes the V&A special is its human touch. These are not just beautiful objects behind the glass. They are things people used, wore, and loved. You will see wedding dresses from the 1700s until today, furniture from palaces and ordinary homes, and toys that children played with centuries ago.
The Queer Museum
Opened recently in King’s Cross, Queer Britain is the UK’s first national LGBTQ+ museum. It’s a space celebrating the stories, people, and objects that have shaped queer life in Britain over the centuries.
It links historical artefacts with contemporary art, archival photographs with personal testimonies. You might see protesting banners from Pride marches in the 1970s, love letters between same-sex couples from the Victorian era, or artwork by queer artists responding to the AIDS crisis.
