Museums in London

For some intellectual stimulation we suggest visiting some of our favourite museums and art galleries in London

Museums in Central London

The Wallace Collection - Manchester Square

Small but perfectly formed. This collection housed in a square north of Oxford Street, was built up by the Marquesses of Hertford and he left it and his town house to the Nation. The Wallace has a great collection of art and furniture, guns, suits of armour and, most famously of all, Franz Hals's painting 'The Laughing Cavalier'. Thanks to a recent infusion of funding it now also has a very pleasant café in its central covered courtyard - a great place to be uplifted and to relax after the hurly burly of Oxford Street.

Sir John Soane's Museum - Lincoln's Inn Fields

An underappreciated oddity a couple of minutes' walk away from Holborn tube. Sir John was Britain's leading architect of the early 19th century and he turned his house into a museum as he lived there, filling it with architectural 'salvage' and lots of mirrors which make it seem bigger than it is. The highlight, apart from the Egyptian mummy's sarcophagus in the basement, is the amazing picture room. It appears to be nothing more than a small room with wood panelled walls, but the wall panels are hinged and when the attendant opens them, on the other side is the fantastic set of William Hogarth's paintings for 'A Rakes Progress', amongst others. Literally a hidden treasure!