The Science Museum has some good stuff if you can get past the gaudy plastic displays lecturing you on CO2 emissions. ISTR the best stuff is mostly rocks, which the Natural History museum has more of. The Natural History is obviously in the best building and it has the best chocolate muffins. The British Museum is full of tourists and in any case should be rename the British Colonial Lootings Museum. The London Museum and thought it was good but I can't remember a single thing about it so maybe it was just average. The War Museum I don't I've never managed to get to.
None of the above. I would like to say Museum of London but the the collection suffers from being in two sites imo. If you're talking large scale museums, probably the Victoria and Albert. It's an impressive grand building too.
Soanes. Small, perfectly formed and better than all the rest unless you have to take small children in which case the stuffed animals at the Horniman.
Not sure how a museum of decorative arts can be better than museums of natural history, colonial history or science but whatevs.
Have you been? They have costume, jewellery, ceramic, glass, plaster case pieces of famous sculptures and bits of buildings, instruments, altarpieces, textiles - there is bound to be something of interest to you.
Is it The Museum of London that has a ropey yet fantastic diorama of the fire of London? In a little dark room with benches and tiny flashy lights?
I love The British Museum best. I always see something I've not seen before, and can look at the same stuff endlessly. Sometimes you can walk into a room and it's empty, sometimes madly crowded. Love the roof too
Yes. I recall this vividly from my childhood, which was some time ago now, and it's still there, unmolested by the digital era.
Well, quite. It's not just about pretty stuff. Think of it as a museum about design rather than decorative objects. They have architecture, photography, paintings, textiles, political cartoons, rare books, massive Asian collection with information about our colonial past, and the relationship between imperial trade and domestic manufacturing. There is plenty to critique but lots of amazing things as well. It's worth having a look on the website to get an idea of the scope of the collection, and the exhibitions Closed Exhibition – Disobedient Objects - Victoria and Albert Museum was an exhibition about objects used in political activism. The Collections - Victoria and Albert Museum
Has to be the British Museum IMO. It's one of the great museums in the world. The undeniable fact that a lot of the stuff in there was basically acquired by shooting the rightful owners and nicking it, and should really be given back, doesn't mean it's not amazing stuff.
The RAF Museum has to be one of the best aviation museums. More beautiful aeroplanes than you can shake a windsock at and it always seems gloriously un-busy.
Not sure why you asked on here if you really only wanted people to pick from your limited options. There's a fair argument to be made about the relevance to social history of the V&A collections. It hosts a major public reference library of "fine and decorative arts of many countries and periods"... all sorts of stuff including trade catalogues and photography. The café is also very good, if pricey. Beautiful interior. But whatevs
By the way, the Imperial War Museum hasn't been free for many years. Adult tickets are close to 20 quid.
Spitfires are also one thing, and knowing what a 30,000 year old frozen bloke wore and had for dinner or a 400 year old woman did for shoes is the real frisson stuff.
I think Oxford might still be in the South East. The Pitt Rivers Museum is a glorious, quirky place, full of anthropological oddments.....
You beat me to it. Though the natural history museum you have to walk through to get to it is a little marvel in itself... e2a: the BBC still has the audio tours for those two museums and others in that series up on their website. 2e2a: The natural history museum there is full of gems such as the Sunday Stone (previously mentioned) and this little list. For rock nuts every single stone pillar is carved from a different geological specimen from around the British Isles (and labelled).
The Vault is located in the basement of the Hard Rock Cafe shop in London. It has some incredible pieces of rock memorabilia and is free to visit. It Rocks!
Well yes. I went to the natural history museum yesterday and saw this rock that looked like a dead bird: And this rock that looked like a moss-covered log:
