London Museums and Art Galleries

London is visited by millions of tourists every year. They come there to see the sights of London and to visit London’s museums. There is quite a number of museums and art galleries in London which are world-famous.

The National Gallery is situated in Trafalgar Square and is one of the best known art galleries in the world. It was founded in 1824 and houses one of the most important collections of Italian paintings outside Italy. It is also famous for its Dutch collection, particularly for paintings by Rembrandt.

The national Portrait Gallery is situated near the National Gallery. It is Britain’s leading art gallery of portraits of famous people in British history. The National Portrait Gallery in noted for representing various kinds of portraits – from traditional on paintings to photographs. Founded in 1856, in 1984 it contained over 8 00 original portraits and more than 500 000 photographs.

The famous Tate Gallery was opened in 1897 with the financial support of Sir Henry Tate. He also gave a collection of 65 paintings. The gallery contains a unique collection of British painting from the 16^th century to the present day. Turner and Blake are particularly well represented in the collections. The gallery also has many drawings and modern sculpture.

Victoria and Albert Museum is a collection of find and applied arts. It contains a great collection of miniature, too. It was opened in 1857 and was named after Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert.

The British Museum was founded in 1753, it contains one of the world’s richest collections of antiquities. It also houses in main collection covering the history of plants, minerals, and the animal world. There is also Reading Room of the British Library in the museum.

There is number of museums in London which are neither an museums or galleries. Nevertheless, they attract tourists from different parts of Great Britain and of the world. You are sure to know about Madame Tusseau’s Museum. It contains hundreds of works figures which are sculpture portraits of famous personalities – political figures, painters, musicians, sportsmen and even criminals. The Museum of London represents the history of the city from its foundation to its present day. The Museum of Moving Image illustrates the history of cinema.

In other worlds, any visitor can find a museum to his taste in London.