Know your national museums

London’s national museums are extremely fine, and best of all, they’re free (though special exhibitions in them usually have admissions charges). But you need to know what you want to see. So here is a brief guide to the major museums, their collections, strengths and highlights.

V&A

This museum was set up to show examples of craftwork and design – the Victorian idea was that showing great examples of past works would assist manufacturers and designers. If you’re into wrought ironwork, pottery, fashion, glass or woodwork, there’s lots to see here. There’s even a marvellous collection of musical instruments, including the oboe that belonged to the composer Rossini.  If you’re interested in Renaissance art, there are some great terracottas and sculptures – but not much in the way of painting. I love the V&A and find it a perennial source of inspiration, though some of the 20th century design exhibits seem a bit self-indulgent.

Top sights:

• The Great Bed of Ware. If you have a very, very adventurous love life and an awful lot of friends with benefits this could be the bed for you!
• The Far Eastern collections, including the Toshiba Japanese gallery. Superb collections of Buddhist and Jain art, in particular.
• The Louis XII triptych, a gorgeous piece of Limoges enamel from the 15th century.
• The Luck of Edenhall, an amazing 13th century enamelled drinking glass from Syria – kept in an English family for more than 230 years, with a legendary verse curse – ‘ If this cup should break or fall, Farewell the Luck of Edenhall.’
• Michelangelo’s David. If you thought it was in Florence, think again! In fact, it’s part of a collection of casts of famous sculptures; not quite the real thing but very nearly as good, and much less crowded.

British Museum

The British Museum is the chief museum for antiquities, with collections including Egyptian, Roman, Sumerian, Greek and medieval, as well as massive holdings of British items from prehistory onwards. It is absolutely huge – to be honest I could spend all day here, and sometimes do! It also includes an ethnology department, so there are exhibits on the cultures of ancient America, Africa and Asia. This aspect is often overlooked but it’s well worth looking for these less frequented galleries.

Top sights:

• The Elgin marbles. Whether or not you approve of them being here, they are undeniably amazing.
• The Lewis chessmen, eleventh century walrus ivory chessmen from the then Viking north.
• The Egyptian galleries. Mummies, mummies everywhere. The tomb-chapel of Nebamun is a chance to visit a fine Egyptian painted tomb without actually going to Egypt – don’t miss it, particularly the tabby cat that’s trying to catch a duck! And the Rosetta stone – the stone from which ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs were finally deciphered.
• Huge Assyrian statues of winged lions and bulls, from palace gateways.
• Amazing Roman treasure, the Mildenhall treasure with its lovely silver from a Romano-British villa.
• Prehistoric British treasures include the Mold gold cape, and Rillaton gold cup.
• The Sutton Hoo treasure, from an Anglo-Saxon royal burial, including a fantastic helmet – if you’ve read Beowulf (or seen the film) you’ll want to see this.

Natural History Museum

It’s quite obvious what the raison d’etre of this museum is. It’s the big sight for kids, who will love the dinosaurs, whales and earthquakes.

• Dinosaur skeletons in the main hall include the diplodocus – very long and, apparently, very, very, stupid.
• ‘The Power Within’ exhibit includes simulated earthquakes.
• Lots of skeletons and stuffed creatures include a blue whale. Immense.
• If you’re visiting in summer, the wildlife garden offers a little peace and quiet – besides flowers, butterflies, and birdsong.

The Science Museum

Again it’s fairly obvious what this museum is all about. It may not sound everyone’s cup of tea, but actually it has some absolutely fascinating exhibits and is not just a collection of old test tubes.

• Steam engines – the first ever, Puffing Billy, and Stephenson’s Rocket. And the first jet engine, too, just to bring us into the age of mass air travel.
• For nerds, a working example of Babbage’s Difference Engine.
• An IMAX centre shows science documentaries. Fun to drop in and learn something.

National Gallery

This is ‘the’ national collection of art (or specifically painting, as sculpture tended to get given to the V&A).

Highlights include:

• Van Eyck’s Arnolfini marriage -the painting with the pregnant bride, puffy white dog, and fish-eye mirror in the background.
• Constable’s Haywain and some marvellous Gainsborough paintings.
• Rousseau’s ‘Surprised!’, the tropical jungle and tiger painting by this French naive painter.
• A marvellous collection of Italian medieval and Renaissance paintings. Let’s just give a very quick run down of painters – Michelangelo, Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks, Uccello, Bellini, Raphael, Botticelli,Titian, and a SUPERB room of Tintoretto and Veronese. And a lot more.
• Turner’s ‘Fighting Temeraire’.
• Van Gogh’s sunflowers.
• The Wilton Diptych, one of the most breathtakingly elegant works of the Gothic style, made for Richard II.
• Holbein’s Ambassadors, the painting with the anamorphic skull at the bottom – you have to wriggle around to see it from the right angle (a Tudor version of Magic Eye, which I have always found equally frustrating).

National Portrait Gallery

Not that there aren’t portraits in the National Gallery. But this gallery is devoted to portraiture, and specifically to British subjects. Contemporary as well as historical art – there are portraits and self portraits by Henry Moore, Tracey Emin, David Hockney, and Marc Quinn.

Highlights include:

• Holbein cartoons for portraits of Henry VII and Henry VIII
• Van Dyck – Charles II as Duke of York and Lady Digby Prudence
• Reynolds portraits of Laurence Sterne and James Boswell
• works by Nicholas Hilliard, Queen Elizabeth I’s painter and a fine miniaturist

Tate Modern and Tate Britain are the two remaining galleries – I’ve covered them already in this post. Basically, Tate Britain is for British art, from about 1550 to today (no medieval work), while Tate Modern is for 20c and contemporary art from around the world.

Armed with this information, set out boldly! You’ll have to compete with throngs of tourists, but it is well worth it, and above all – it’s free, so if you don’t like it, you’ve wasted nothing but time.