London Museums

pavb2

Going to London next week what would people recommend I've heard the Imperial War Museum supposed to be good any other places of historical interest people can recommend?

Thanks

Morlar

The IWM is fantastic, the V&A also and the Science museum.

Tabnabs

I visited the IWM just a couple of weeks ago and was really disappointed by it. Not as big as you would expect, the exhibits I found to be poorly laid out and you were easily confused as to which bit was next. The displays themselves were relatively small and chock full of items so that two/three people standing in front reading would block that display for a good while. All in all a poor experience for me. The French War Museum - Musée de l'Armée was far more impressive and memorable.

But the British Museum was excellent and is highly recommended. The Tower of London was enjoyable too, the guided tour was very entertaining.

Morlar

Dyflin wrote: »

I visited the IWM just a couple of weeks ago and was really disappointed by it. Not as big as you would expect, the exhibits I found to be poorly laid out and you were easily confused as to which bit was next. The displays themselves were relatively small and chock full of items so that two/three people standing in front reading would block that display for a good while. All in all a poor experience for me. The French War Museum - Musée de l'Armée was far more impressive and memorable.

But the British Museum was excellent and is highly recommended. The Tower of London was enjoyable too, the guided tour was very entertaining.

The IWM is big enough imo. Apart from the tacky auschwitz model room (not sure if they are still running that) the exhibits were impressive I thought. Certainly compared to Collins barracks military museum it is several times larger.

They could pay more attention to the Irish in WWI or even WW2 for that matter but otherwise it's fairly comprehensive.

I'd agree the french war museum is vast (it's been about 10 yrs since I was in it) but there is always the factor of inundating people with countless exhibits not all of which are necessary & many are repetitive. As I recall I spent about 4 or 5 hours there and had only completed a fraction of it. The museum in Caen or the smithsonian have that issue also. In comparison the IWM is just the right size - give yourself 3 hours and you would complete it all.

Dozen Wicked Words

The Natural History Museum is a good visit, I liked the IWM. Art wise the National Portrait Gallery and the two Tate Galleries are worth a look too.

Judgement Day

The London Transport Museum at Covent Garden was superb - but that was more than twenty years ago when I was last in my old hometown.
http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/

Winty

Not a Museum but if your in London any Tuesday night jump on the Picadilly line to Hammersmith and visit the Irish Cultural Centre.

A man called Bernard Canavan holds a History talk that is superb, he is a great talker and a very well read man

A Great Night

http://www.irishculturalcentre.co.uk/?q=node/152

lord lucan

Dyflin wrote: »

But the British Museum was excellent and is highly recommended.

+1. The Egyptian collection is staggering.:)

I'd also recommend the Transport museum in Covent Garden,very well done.:)

InTheTrees

The science museum, the natural history museum and the victoria and albert museum are all next to each other so its a good place to start.

In addition to the IWM, there's the smaller army(?) museum in Chelsea, near kings road.

The National Gallery in trafalgar square is really great as well.

pavb2

Thanks for all replies, off on thurs I was also interested in ww1/www2 battle sites museums in France but didn't want to confuse this thread too much.

But where would people recommend Caen looked v. good also Verdun possibly the Somme or Marne

Thanks again for help

InTheTrees

Try posting in the Military/wwI forum for the best battle sites maybe?

You're going to france too? Have a great trip.

Doozie

Portrait Gallery is nice too.

The Cabinet War Rooms are very good if you are into military history although dont forget the rest of the museum before you leave. I walked right out and missed half the exhibition and didn't discovered for weeks later how much I'd missed.

pavb2

thanks for all replies this has been a great help.

Unfortunately not off to France yet (inthetrees) but planning in future

Gray

One of my favourites is the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, large grounds include the the Queens House & the Royal Observatory. Greenwich village is worth a visit as well loads of antique shops, Cutty Sark (under repair I think) & the Gipsy Moth

ejmaztec

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/plan-your-day/what-to-see.cfm

RAF Museum, say no more.

shellyhowell

Hi friend, London, England is full of museums. There are large museums and smaller museums. Many are quite good and some are ever-so-slightly crappy. There lot of top museums in London available. If you only have time to visit Best of London’s many interesting museums.. Have a great day dear friend..

Doozie

I went to the Museum of London there a few weeks ago and I almost wept it was so good.
Ended up going to the V&A which, to be honest, I was a bit disappointed with. In fairness, I only visited their permanent exhibitions and wasn't prepared for their display and design to be so dated.
The science Museum was pretty brilliant too.