London’s top museums and galleries hold impressive collections of art and artefacts, as well as putting on educational and entertaining exhibits throughout the year. Here, there is something for everyone, from modern art and social history to dinosaur bones and influential figures. It’s no wonder that, out of the 20 most visited museums in the world, five can be found in London.
14 top museums in London
This list is in no particular order and is based on the favourites of the blooloop team.
1. The Postal Museum
This little-known gem is one of the top museums in London. Open since 2017, this heritage attraction explores Britain’s earliest social network, the postal service, and covers five centuries of history.
The Postal Museum is a family-friendly choice, where guests of all ages can enjoy interactive exhibits as well as Mail Rail, an immersive underground rail ride. The collection includes some of the vehicles used to deliver the mail throughout history, the world’s first postage stamp, and examples of iconic graphic design.
Guests can also dress up in examples of postal service uniforms throughout the ages and defeat a lioness attack in the mail coach game. The museum was one of five UK museums selected as finalists for the Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2018.
Did you know? The postal service has been around for over five hundred years. It was introduced under the reign of King Henry VIII and he was the only person it served.
2. The Museum of London
The award-winning Museum of London is another top pick for visitor attractions in the UK capital. It presents the story of London throughout history, from its first settlers through to the people who live there today.
In 2019, the Museum’s director Sharon Ament gave attendees at blooloopLIVE UK a sneak peek of plans for the museum’s new home in Smithfield Market. Planning permission was granted for the new Museum of London in June 2020 and in 2021, Ament spoke to blooloop about the task of moving the attraction to a new home.
In November 2022, the Museum of London’s updated plans to create a new destination within several historic buildings in West Smithfield were approved. The museum’s London Wall site closed in December 2022 ready for the move. The Docklands site remains open as usual. There will be a festival curated by Londoners around the new London Museum in 2025 before it opens in 2026.
At its Docklands site, the Museum of London delves into the city’s history as a port, talking about sugar, slavery, and the days of Empire, as well as the impact of the Blitz and industrial decline.
Did you know? When the old London Bridge was demolished in 1831, the materials were recycled to create knives and forks.
3. The National Gallery
The National Gallery offers visitors to London the chance to see one of the top collections of paintings in the world. Within the gallery, guests can see iconic works by the likes of Van Gogh, Caravaggio, Titian and Botticelli. The National Gallery is home to over 2,300 works of art, covering key moments and movements in Western European art from the 13th to the early 20th century.
The collection itself dates back to 1824. This was when the House of Commons agreed to pay £57,000 for a collection of 38 paintings owned by a banker named John Julius Angerstein. The aim was to create a new national collection, for the enjoyment and education of all.
Then in 1831, it was decided that a dedicated building would be constructed to house the collection as it grew. The site, in Trafalgar Square, opened to the public in 1838.
In 2019, Judith Mather, buying and brand licensing director at the National Gallery spoke to blooloop about its strategy for taking the brand into the Asian market. The museum also announced ambitious new redevelopment plans in 2021, and National Gallery Global’s Julie Molloy shared more about these plans at blooloop’s Festival of Innovation in 2022.
As part of its bicentenary celebrations in 2024, the museum has announced plans to loan its masterpieces to 12 museums and galleries across the UK.
Did you know? Some of the sculptures on the outside of the building are redundant pieces left over from the creation of Marble Arch, created to commemorate the Napoleonic Wars
4. The Science Museum
Next on our list of top London museums is the much-loved Science Museum. This is home to interactive exhibits and fascinating facts for all ages.
The Science Museum was founded in 1857 and attracts over 3 million visitors each year. The permanent collection holds more than 300,000 items, including the oldest surviving steam locomotive, the first jet engine, the Apollo 10 command module and a reconstruction of Crick & Watson’s DNA model, as well as some early steam engines.
In addition to this, the museum is also home to a large medical collection. Here, it displays exhibits of medical equipment and practices throughout history, from around the world. In 2019, The Science Museum started construction on a new facility. This will house more than 300,000 objects that have been in storage.
In 2023, it opened a new interactive gallery dedicated to climate change called ‘Energy Revolution’. That same year, the museum also announced that its popular Power Up exhibition would become a permanent fixture, after five successful seasons. The interactive experience allows guests to get hands-on with video games and consoles from the previous 50 years.
Did you know? Robots are older than you might think. The Science Museum owns a life-sized spider automaton that dates to around 1600.
5. The Victoria and Albert Museum
The V&A is one of the world’s leading museums of art, design and performance, and is one of the top destinations for visitors to London. Queen Victoria herself laid the foundation stone in 1899.
This museum has a permanent collection of more than 2.3 million objects, covering over 5,000 years. Topics covered include architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewellery, glass and ceramics. The V&A also holds book arts, Asian art and materials related to design, theatre and performance.
The V&A has embarked on its FuturePlan project. This will see the creation of new galleries and visitor facilities as well as restoration work on the Kensington venue. The new location in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford will be called V&A East. This will include a new five-storey museum, as well as a new collection and research centre. In 2022, blooloop spoke to Claire McKeown and Gus Casely-Hayford to find out more about the plans.
The V&A also recently reimagined London’s Museum of Childhood, reopening it as Young V&A in 2023.
Did you know? The V&A Museum was one of the first to formally introduce Rapid Response Collecting. This is where contemporary objects are acquired in reaction to key moments in modern history. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic.
6. The Natural History Museum
Another favourite London museum, the Natural History Museum’s collection tops 80 million specimens. It records more than 5 million visits per year.
The museum is famous for its dinosaur exhibits. However, there are many other collections available to explore too. These cover the fields of botany, entomology, mineralogy and zoology. The Natural History Museum first opened to the public in 1881, based on the collection of 17th-century physician and botanist, Hans Sloane.
In 2020, the Natural History Museum declared a planetary emergency. It has launched a new strategy in response to climate change and will create new galleries, exhibitions and events that aim to encourage visitors to become advocates for the planet. It is the world’s first museum to set a science-based carbon reduction target, in line with the Paris Agreement.
The museum took part in a series of events at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, and again at COP28 in Dubai in 2023. It is currently working on the redevelopment of its gardens, as part of the Urban Nature Project.
Did you know? Hope the blue whale was found stranded on a sandbar near Wexford, Ireland in 1891. Her skeleton now hangs suspended in the museum’s Hintze Hall. Some analysis has revealed more information about Hope and her life.
7. Horniman Museum and Gardens
The Horniman Museum and Gardens is home to around 350,000 objects. The collection includes internationally important anthropological items and musical instruments as well as a wide array of taxidermied animals.
The museum aims to help visitors to connect with global cultures and the natural world. In keeping with this mission, it is one of several top London museums to declare a climate emergency.
In 2020, Nick Merriman, CEO of the Horniman Museum and Gardens spoke to blooloop as the museum reopened to the public following the COVID-19 crisis. He discussed the museum’s future plans as well as the importance of engaging with diverse audiences.
The museum was named Art Fund’s Museum of the Year in 2022. It also invited tenders for an architect-led design team for a major redevelopment project. That same year, the museum announced the return of 72 artefacts, including 12 Benin bronzes, to Nigeria.
Did you know? The museum holds Frederick Horniman’s Insect Collection. This includes more than 4,700 butterflies, over 2,000 beetles and almost 500 specimens of other insects.
8. The Wallace Collection
The Wallace Collection in Manchester Square, London, is a world-beating collection of paintings, sculptures, furniture, arms and armour and porcelain. This was collected over the 18th and 19th centuries by the Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace. It was given to the British Nation in 1897 by Wallace’s widow.
At this top London museum, visitors can view almost 5,500 pieces from the 15th to the 19th centuries. The collection includes 18th-century French paintings, Sèvres porcelain and French furniture. It also features a large collection of arms and armour. These are shown alongside many other fascinating objects. For instance, gold boxes, miniatures, sculptures, and medieval and Renaissance works of art.
Did you know? Wallace’s widow gifted the collection to the nation, with the stipulation that no object should ever leave, even for loan exhibitions. However, since 2019 the museum has been allowed to enter into temporary loan agreements for the first time.
9. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
While it might not necessarily come under the category of museums in the traditional sense, this is still one of our top choices for London. In fact, within its spectacular gardens and herbarium, this attraction is home to a huge and diverse botanical and mycological collection. This includes around 50,000 living plants as well as more than 8.5 million preserved plant and fungal specimens.
Kew Gardens is also home to a library of over 750,000 volumes. In addition to this, it holds a collection of more than 175,000 prints and drawings of plants.
In 2018, director Richard Deverell spoke to blooloop about the vital scientific work done by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as well as its role as a leading attraction. Kew worked with Beano in 2021 to create an interactive trail that would help young visitors engage with the topic of biodiversity.
Did you know? Kew Gardens has its own police force, Kew Constabulary, founded in 1847.
See also: Top 17 botanical gardens in the world, from Kew to Jardim Botânico
10. Sir John Soane’s Museum
Another top London attraction is this house museum, located in the former home of the architect Sir John Soane.
Sir John Soane’s Museum still resembles how it would have looked when he died, almost 180 years ago. Here, visitors can explore a huge collection of antiquities, furniture, sculptures, architectural models and paintings. This includes pieces by William Hogarth and Canaletto, as well as three by J. M. W. Turner who was a friend of Soane’s. In addition to this, the museum holds more than 30,000 architectural drawings.
The house itself also features some interesting architecture. Most notably, the Dome Area, Colonnade and Museum Corridor, which showcase Soane’s own skill.
In 2023, Will Gompertz, former artistic director at the Barbican, was announced as the new director of the museum. He replaces the institution’s previous director Bruce Boucher, who retires at the end of 2023 after nearly eight years.
Did you know? Soane established the museum in order to disinherit his own son, with whom he had a lifelong feud.
11. Charles Dickens Museum
This museum is dedicated to Charles Dickens, an author whose name is recognised around the world. One of the things Dickens is particularly famous for is his evocative descriptions of life in 19th-century London. The author lived in this Georgian terraced house for just over two years, from 1837 to 1839.
View this post on Instagram
Here, visitors can step into his study and see the chair where he wrote Oliver Twist, The Pickwick Papers and Nicholas Nickleby. They can also explore the family’s bedrooms and the servants’ quarters below stairs. On display are items such as letters, and handwritten drafts from some of his novels. Plus, there are several personal items, like his wife’s engagement ring.
The museum finally became searchable on TikTok in March 2022. It was previously ‘blocked’ on the social media platform because the English writer “has a rude word in his name”.
Did you know? The museum is home to Dickens’ Court Suit and sword. He wore this when he met the Prince of Wales in 1870.
12. The Migration Museum
Despite being one of the newest museums in London, this is still one of our top choices. After several collaborations, pop-ups and temporary spaces, it moved into its new premises in Lewisham Shopping Centre on 14 February 2020. The Migration Museum showcases the stories of people who have moved to and from Britain, both recently and throughout history.
Like the others on this list, it had to close during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it later reopened with the launch of a new exhibition, Departures. This explored four centuries of emigration from Britain. It coincided with the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower.
In 2020, director Sophie Henderson spoke to blooloop about the formation of the museum and told us more about its mission. A pop-up Migration Museum was later opened in Leeds, UK.
Did you know? The Migration Museum began in 2012 with no premises and only one employee. Its first exhibition was based on pictures submitted by members of the public, called 100 Images of Migration.
13. Tate Modern
This museum is top of many people’s lists when they visit London, and for good reason. Tate Modern’s world-class collection of contemporary art lives in an imposing former power station by the River Thames. This includes the vast Turbine Hall where large-scale installations are displayed.
Tate Modern is one of the most visited art museums in the world. Highlights include works by Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Roy Lichenstein, Salvador Dalí and Tracy Emin.
The museum was founded in 2000 and celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2020. Before the pandemic, it had several events planned to mark the milestone. For instance, an immersive exhibition by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama featuring her ‘Infinity Rooms’.
In 2021, Hilary Knight, director of digital at Tate, spoke about how the museum’s digital strategy helps to advance its mission, which is to promote the public’s understanding and enjoyment of art online.
Tate Modern appointed Karin Hindsbo as its new director in 2023. In her previous role, Hindsbo led the creation of Oslo’s National Museum, merging four of Norway’s art and design institutions.
Did you know? Unlike many other art galleries and national collections, the Tate does not display its works in chronological order. Instead, it arranges them into broad thematic groups.
14. Leighton House
Leighton House Museum is both a historic house and an art museum, having served as the home and studio of painter Frederic Leighton. The building is renowned for its use of tiles and other materials that were acquired from the Near East to create a magnificent Qa’a (room). Constructed between 1866 and 1895, the Grade II listed building features exquisite interior design.
It has been a public museum since 1929. In 2012, it was given the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage. Leighton House was also shortlisted for the Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2022, following a redevelopment project.
Along with 81 oil paintings by Leighton himself, the museum features artwork by several Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists. This includes Edward Burne-Jones, George Frederic Watts, and John Everett Millais.
Did you know? The home’s pseudo-Islamic court has been used as a set for several motion pictures and television shows, including Nicholas Nickleby in 2002 and Brazil in 1985. It also featured in an episode of the drama series Spooks.
Images within this list of top London museums © the organisations listed unless otherwise labelled. Header image kind courtesy of the National Gallery
