Buckingham Palace - Cabinet War Rooms - Houses of Parliament

National Gallery - Covent Garden

The National Gallery is the largest and the premier (hence the name) gallery in the UK, with collections spanning the early Middle ages to the 20th century. The building itself is grand and cavernous with enormous care having been taken to present the works in a digestible and logical sequence. There are so many well known canvases in The National Gallery that around every corner there's an 'ooh' and 'ahh' of recognition. Amongst others you'll find works by: Titian, Turner, Raphael, Caravaggio, Botticelli and Rubens. Rooms are lit from above in the Sainsbury Wing and supplemented by automated lighting if the sun goes behind a cloud, so you never see the paintings in anything less than their best light.

The Medieval Art has been restored (which has received much criticism by 'experts'), so that they positively gleam, whereas previously, they were dun and rather lacking colour. There's too much to take in, in one visit, so probably best to visit in several stages. With such a central location, this presents no problem and if you live in the capital, there's nothing to prevent you visiting the National Gallery as often as you like.

The main crush will be around the impressionist paintings which draw the largest and most enthusiastic crowds - Van Goch, Seurat and Monet are well represented and ten-deep with admirers, but it's all in good spirit. People are just pleased to see them and the atmosphere is always polite and well mannered. Along with the Tate Britain, the National Gallery is an essential stop on a visitor's tour of London. Aside from the well-known canvasses - it's the lesser known works and the extraordinary beauty of the gallery itself, that will stay with you.

Buckingham Palace - Cabinet War Rooms - Houses of Parliament

Buckingham Palace in London, was originally known as Buckingham House, the building which forms the core of today's palace. It was a sizable townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 and enlarged over the next 100 years, principally by architects John Nash and Edward Blore, forming three wings around a central courtyard.

Buckingham Palace became the official royal palace of the British monarch in London after the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. The palace chapel was destroyed by a German bomb in World War II and the Queen's Gallery was built on the site and opened to the public in 1962 to exhibit works of art from the Royal Collection. It is one of London's top 3 visitor attractions and the changing of the guard (11am every day in summer, every other day in winter) is on the sightseeing list of most visitors and tourists in London.

The original early 19th-century interior designs, many of which still survive, included widespread use of scagliola (a technique for creating 'chips' in columns so they resemble marble) and blue and pink lapis, King Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in a Belle epoque cream and gold colour scheme.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 956