10 Free London Museums
There are over 250 museums in London and a number of the large national museums are free of charge to enter. They may occasionally charge for specialist exhibitions but you can see all the main exhibits.
Here are just ten of the museums that you can visit for free in London:-
1. The British Museum – Open 10.00 – 1730 (Tube: Tottenham Court Road) houses a vast collection of ancient artefacts from around the world, including Egyptian mummies.
The Museum was founded over 250 years ago. Its aim was to show everything as an encyclopaedia of nature and of art. Today it no longer houses collections belonging to natural history as these are kept at the Natural History Museum.
The extensive volumes of books it had are now with the British Library. The Museum still represents the cultures of the world with over 13 million artefacts.
2. Natural History Museum – Open 10.00 – 1750 (Tube: South Kensington) The Natural History Museum houses the world-famous collection of dinosaur skeletons, among thousands of other exhibits from the natural world.
There are 30 permanent galleries covering history and architecture and earth’s ecology. There is the Darwin Centre and area for Teachers’ Resources, Family Activities and Community Groups.
More than 300 scientists work at the Museum and tackle a diverse range of global problems. Research is organised around 6 major challenges covering such topics as biodiversity, evolution and the ecosystem.
3. The Science Museum – open 10.00 – 1800 (Tube: South Kensington) The Science Museum is a leading technological museum, with impressive exhibits including the Apollo 10 spacecraft.
The Science Museum was founded in 1857 with objects shown at the Great Exhibition held in the Crystal Palace. Today the Museum is world renowned for its historic collections, awe-inspiring galleries and inspirational exhibitions. There are hundreds of thousands of objects ranging from aircraft to microchips.
4. V&A – open 10.00 – 1745 (Tube: South Kensington)
The Victoria and Albert Museum is a major museum of art and design.
It includes exhibits covering ceramics, fashion jewellery and accessories, furniture, glass, metalworks, paintings and drawings, photography (which now houses over 500,000 images), sculpture, prints and books, textiles (covering a period of more than 2000 years), theatre and performance.
5. Museum of Childhood – Open 10.00 – 1745 (Tube: Bethnal Green) – Belongs to the V&A Museum – one of the world’s largest and oldest collections of toys and childhood artefacts. The Museum’s permanent displays are arranged into three main galleries; Moving Toys, Creativity and Childhood.
There are lots of things to do for families every day at the Museum. Amazing prizes, freebies and giveaways!
The V&A Museum of Childhood houses the UK’s national collection of childhood-related objects, one of the finest in the world. Spanning the 1600s to the present day, the collection features toys, dolls, dolls’ houses, games, puppets, nursery, children’s clothing and furniture.
The V&A Museum of Childhood is situated in Tower Hamlets, one of the most deprived and culturally diverse boroughs in London. The museum has a local Community Strategy with an extensive programme of outreach projects and events for local audiences in Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham.
6. Imperial War Museum – Open 10.00- 1800 (Tube: Elephant & Castle or Lambeth North) houses an extensive collection covering all aspects of 20th and 21st century conflict involving Britain and the Commonwealth (www.iwm.org.uk).
The Imperial War Museum
The Imperial War Museum is unique in its coverage of conflicts, especially those involving Britain and the Commonwealth, from the First World War to the present day. It seeks to provide for, and to encourage, the study and understanding of the history of modern war and ‘war-time experience’. It is proud to be regarded as one of the essential sights of London.
You can walk through the trenches in World War 1 and experience London in the Blitz. The Holocaust Exhibition is up close and personal with individuals who lived through this terrible time telling their stories through video. There are many challenging insights into this period of history.
The Imperial War Museum - The Main Hall
The Museum spans a huge range of activities not only at its main London location but also at its four further branches: the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms in Whitehall, the historic ship HMS Belfast, moored in the Pool of London, Imperial War Museum Duxford near Cambridge, and Imperial War Museum North in Trafford.
7. National Maritime Museum, open 10.00 – 1700 (DLR station is Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich) consists of the Maritime Galleries, the Royal Observatory and the 17th-century Queen’s House (www.nmm.ac.uk/)
The National Maritime Museum comprises three sites: the Maritime Galleries, the Royal Observatory and the Queen’s House. Together these constitute one museum working to illustrate for everyone the importance of the sea, ships, time and the stars and their relationship with people.
The National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory, Greenwich, have a collection of over 2 million objects about the sea, ships, astronomy and time. Collections Online gives you access to over 12,000 of these and is frequently updated and expanded.
8. Museum of London open 10.00 – 18.00 (Tube: Barbican or St Pauls) The Museum of London documents the history of London from the prehistoric to the present day, and for those who have a love for London, this place Rocks!.
There are Communty exhibitions, the Great Fire, the Plague and the Blitz and frequent Special Exhibitions
The museum also has exhibitions covering 4 main time periods; London before London, Roman London, Medieval London and Early Stuart London
9. The Wallace Collection – open 10.00 – 17.00 (Tube: Bond Street, Oxford Street or Baker Street)
The Wallace Collection has fine works of art, French 18th century paintings, furniture, a world class collection of arms & armour, and porcelain with superb Old Masters, in a historic London townhouse in Marylebone.
10. The Bank of England Museum. 10.00 – 17.00 Mon – Fri (Tube: Bank, Monument or Cannon Street)
The Bank of England Museum is located within the Bank of England in the heart of the City of London. The entrance to the Museum is in Bartholomew Lane, EC2R 8AH, which is off Threadneedle Street.
The Bank of England has been in existence for more than 300 years and has, unsurprisingly, accumulated a considerable number of items associated with its history.
The Bank of England Museum tells the story of the Bank of England from its foundation in 1694 to its role today as the United Kingdom’s central bank.
The historical displays include material drawn from the Bank’s own collections of books, documents, silver, prints, paintings, banknotes, coins and photographs. There is a display of gold, including Roman and modern gold bars, alongside pikes and muskets once used to defend the Bank. Computer technology and audio visual displays explain the Bank’s present day role.