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    Imperial War Museum

    4.8 (40 reviews)

    Imperial War Museum Photos

    Recommended Reviews - Imperial War Museum

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    Ray F.

    Plan to spend a few hours here. The WWI exhibits will take more than an hour. So many personal items to read, admire, ponder, and imagine the impacts of the Great War. The other wars and conflicts have a few items in ear of the exhibits. The snack bar is a good one. Well worth the time and cost.

    Byron S.

    The Imperial War Museum offers a journey through the history of warfare, with a particular focus on the two World Wars and their impacts on England. Exploring the vast collection of military artifacts, personal accounts, and many immersive exhibits at your fingertips. Highlights include weaponry, uniforms, and vehicles, and moving displays about the human cost of war. The museum also highlights worldwide social and cultural shifts caused by war and an area dedicated to the horrors of the holocaust. It was well worth visiting and spending a couple of hours touring. The museum offers free admission and has several shops with more reading materials. Make sure you add this museum to your list of spots to visit. Enjoy.

    Hannah M.

    This was a great museum. We only had an hour or so before they closed for the day as we were tight on time having moved in my sister to her dorm in Waterloo. We asked the information booth how they recommended maximising our time and the woman working was super helpful. The first floor is on WWI, second floor is WWII, and third floor is dedicated to the Holocaust. There was also a fourth floor with a temporary exhibition on Northern Ireland but we skipped that. Being a Jew whose family was directly impacted by WWII (grandmother fled Germany) I was mostly interested in the third floor which is where we spent the majority of our time. The museum is just really well done - it's a great mix of mediums in terms of videos/objects/informational plaques etc. As far as "Holocaust museums" go it was incredibly tasteful and I loved how it told the story over time (the rise of Hitler in post-depression Germany, the beginnings of Jewish ghettos, the Holocaust, post-war Germany & the Nuremberg trials etc). It was very tastefully done and I loved how it highlighted individual stories as well. Collection of antiquities/war memorabilia is thorough and well-documented. In particular I liked how the captions had in bold the key details of each item. Overall wish we had more time to explore. This is a must-see when in London.

    Harrier
    Ege K.

    I reccomend 10/10 Very fun I liked the History of the museum and I like the hanging spitfire and the sea harrier Very cool place.

    Doug C.

    Stopping here was part of our river cruise before it got started in Paris. We had a panoramic tour of London earlier and this was final stop. Suggest go to top floor first and walk down to view other exhibits. See photo of museum layout and what is on which floor. Each floor is focused on one aspect of UK and Commonwealth wars over many decades. We only had two hours but one can spend much more time there or come back for later visit.

    Pavel R.

    Excellent exhibition. Very nicely laid out and curated. Great for kids as well, even though the content can be morbid.

    Quaime L.

    What a hidden gem! Although the entrance may be underwhelming, don't be dissuaded. Press on! The curators do a magnificent job telling the international and human stories of both World Wars and the UK after. They have an incredible collection of military hardware, housewares and textiles, all used with pictures and film to bring to life these wars. I went with my teenage godson and he had a delightful time learning--by his own admission! Definitely worth the trip and better than paid museums I have gone to, for sure.

    Imperial War Museum
    Martin T.

    If you enjoy History this museum has done a wonderful job of explaining, the who, the why, the way, and the waste a war creates This Classic building has large 15" battleship barrels and a slice of the Berlin wall greet you. There are several gift shops and a cafe inside the impressive building. Admission is free and donations shouldn't be a question so drop a few quid to help out. We we're focused on WW1 events with about three hours of time, Just enough. If you want to follow other wars expect to take a day in the five story labyrinth of displays, actual artifacts, video, and message boards with and without photos. The static displays we're very cool and I won't spoil it by telling you what is there or my favorites Learn the history they never told us of in school, see it for yourself Especially good for teaching our kids these days, nobody wins a war. We need to love our neighbor. Thanks for a Great day Foodguy-martin

    Came here to get my son some souvenirs because he loves history. Very nicely laid out. Entrance is free but you can make a donation.

    Casey M.

    I had visited the imperial war museum when I was 11 nearly 30 years ago and it had a massive impact on me. I had always wanted to go back and finally that moment came and I was so excited about it. However I was so disappointed. I know a lot of time has passed since I last visited but it was so different, so dull and uninspiring and tame. Perhaps it's due to the times we live in where everything is deemed offensive that they have had to tone down the graphics but now it's just not genuine or impactful and it's such a shame.

    More examples of Christmas gifts for those serving during the war.
    Rick W.

    I'm writing this review a bit late but it must be written. This was one of my must go to sites on my visit to London. I felt as of a kid going to the toy store as I am sure my wife felt the same as any parent dreading it. The museum is incredibly impressive from the outside and even more so inside. The museum is great for all who have interest in both World Wars. The first floor was full of all sorts of World War One items that I've only seen in books and some that I've never seen before. I was "running" around the museum pointing out and explaining different items to my wife's annoyance but I absolutely loved it (not annoying my wife). The second floor was just as impressive and very humbling. The areas around the war and it's effects on the population were very informative. The Holocaust section was incredibly humbling and sad but important to remember as to prevent such an act from ever happening again. I couldn't recommend a better museum. Looking forward to my next visit.

    Chloe W.

    I found the IWM to be one of the best museums in London, and a must visit for history buffs! Between the artifacts, audio and video footage, and interactive elements of the museum, the exhibits were amazing. The museum consists of a five-level immersive experience. The first two floors' exhibits provide artifacts from the First and Second World Wars, the third-floor exhibits relate to the Holocaust, and the fourth floor holds rotating exhibits. When I visited, there were two special exhibits, one in honor of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, and the other an exhibition on war in video games. My favorite part of the museums were the occasional blue signs that provided insight into the lives of soldiers and citizens of the time. There is a cafe on the ground floor, and a gift shop on the first floor. The gift shop is small and doesn't have many options but is worth a stop. I spent about two hours here and wish I had more time to explore!

    Front of museum
    Jessica B.

    This is a fascinating museum. We came across it by chance, but I feel very fortunate that we did. Admission is free, as with many of London's museums, so it's defintiely a great bonus if you have the time to stop by When you enter the museum, you'll be blown away by all of the wartime artifacts and exhibits. There are exhibits on WWI and WWII, as well as a moving memorial/exhibit to those lost in the Holocaust. I didn't get to spend a lot of time here, as we had somewhere else we needed to be, but I could have easily spent a few hours exploring each floor. Its incredibly informational and well organized, and I highly recommend if you're into history.

    The museum from above.

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    tons of museum stuff - very informative as well about both world wars and lots of artifacts

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    Review Highlights - Imperial War Museum

    “Lots of information about WWI and WWII, as well as a special exhibit on the Holocaust among other displays.”

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    The British Museum - At British Museum

    The British Museum

    4.6(1.3k reviews)
    1.7 mi•Bloomsbury

    Big! Giant! Huge Collection! I think that describes this museum. Be prepared to spend at least half…read moreday here. For fast pace like me, it takes us 3 hours. This museum need reservations ahead of time. It is free to public. The museum is popular, if you try to get in at the day arrive, you have to hope not many reserve the ticket. The museum has a lot room with different regions in the world. Many of the collection even the host country doesn't have it. The Egypt collection includes the many types of mummies. This collection not even the Egypt has it. The entrance basically enter to the round section that connected to the different room. You may need a good leg to walk entire museum. They also have folding chairs that you can use and portable to open at the display.

    It's not every museum that has a line wrapped around the building when it opens on a Monday…read moremorning. But the British Museum is the world's oldest public national museum, has the largest collection of artifacts of any museum in the world, and is the second most visited attraction in all of the United Kingdom. The museum is free to visit, but we reserved a timed entry ticket for when they opened on Monday morning. I suggest you do this, because people who had tickets were walking right through into the museum after a bag check, while people who had not bought tickets ahead of time were having to wait in another line to get in. The museum is so large and has so many artifacts, that it can be a little overwhelming. For that reason, we relied on the list of highlights of the museum to point us to certain artifacts we didn't want to miss: the Rosetta Stone; the colossal bust of Ramesses II (c. 1250 BC); Hoa Hakananai'a (basalt statue from Easter Island); the Ife head (Nigeria, ca. 1300-1400s); the Sutton Hoo ship burial (dating back to 7th century Britain); the Lewish Chessmen (Scottish, ca. 1150-1175); and more. Prepare for crowds and to be a little overwhelmed by people and artifacts and the size of the museum. If you want to see everything, be prepared to spend an entire in the museum. Since it's free, you can do as we did and just spend a couple of hours - that's all we had - and see what you can see (the highlights list helped)! But it's a great museum and easily one of the most important museums in the country.

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    The British Museum - At British Museum

    At British Museum

    The British Museum - British Museum_Yelp_Sanju-1

    British Museum_Yelp_Sanju-1

    The British Museum - British Museum_Yelp_Sanju-28

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    The Natural History Museum - Monkey carvings

    The Natural History Museum

    4.4(556 reviews)
    2.8 mi•Knightsbridge

    We were in London during a heat wave and decided a museum day was in order, to entertain our…read morechildren away from the scorching sun. We settled on the Natural History Museum, and by the time we realized it would provide but faint relief, it was too late to go somewhere else. The Natural History Museum is one of London's spectacular free museums, a beautiful building on Exhibition Road in South Kensington. We were not, apparently, the only family who decided to visit on this hot Thursday afternoon in July, and we ended up waiting in a long, slow line, completely exposed to the sun. They might have put up some umbrellas, but I guess the weather was atypical. Once we were in, we learned that the museum is an old, historic building without much in the way of air conditioning. It was crowded and steamy in there, though still preferable to being outside. There were also a few newer exhibition halls that had proper AC. Thankfully, my three-year-old has a lifelong fascination with fans, and there were dozens of these on display, giant machines designed to ventilate large spaces. He was, in fact, more into these than he was into the dinosaurs, which scared the bejeezus out of him. The museum was definitely top tier, with tons of interesting exhibits to entertain both children and adults. We entered right into Hintze Hall, where a full blue whale skeleton hung suspended over our heads. We also admired a 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite, dating back to the beginning of our solar system. The dinosaur hall was excellent, even if the animatronic T-rex made my little boy cry. We fell prey to one of the photo op stops, and I definitely paid for the downloads like a sucker--what, was I not gonna own the silly green screen pictures of my family among dinosaurs, and more importantly, looking at a camera at the same time? The mammal hall was cool, though I have to say, I missed the grand diorama displays of the mammal halls I've seen back home. We went into a newer exhibit on how to fix our broken planet, mostly for the air conditioning. My kids were less into the conservation stuff than the dinosaurs and fans, but I thought it was quite well done. I actually stopped buying beef treats for my dog as a result of one of the placards, which talked about the impact on the planet of using beef for pet food. We went to two gift shops, the one by the dinosaur hall and the main one near the entrance, and both were quite nice, with lots to look at for our kids. We allowed them to buy stuffies, and our three-year-old bought a tiny dodo and a tiny ankylosaurus (on theme, good job), while our six-year-old bought a flamingo to add to his flamingo collection. If there was a flamingo display at the museum, we missed it, though I suppose I wouldn't be surprised. I can tell by looking at the map now that we missed plenty. We spent a little time in the cafe, for fans and beverages, and I realized as we were leaving that I'd left my sunglasses there over an hour earlier. I was pleasantly surprised to find it at the register waiting for me. We take the kids to natural history museums at home, and I have no doubt we'd make good use of this one if we were raising them nearby. It's a wonderful place, expansive and educational, a truly amazing free resource to anyone spending time in London.

    Lots of bones! Plenty of old stuff! Great turn-of-the-century over-the-top ornate architecture!…read morePlan on an hour unless you're hardcore. Ride the escalator into the middle of the earth to find out what music is playing inside. See extraordinary taxidermy handiwork. Even see a fake dodo bird thought to be an adjacent species that didn't exist. And if you like dinosaurs this is your Mecca. Just don't dare sit anywhere like on some stairs in the corner or some overzealous guard will kick you right out. But otherwise you'll have a great time. Also enjoy the outside grounds for a stroll, and hit up the West entrance for zero lines while the hoards line up on the other side.

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    The Natural History Museum - Darwin

    Darwin

    The Natural History Museum - Fun dinosaur garden

    Fun dinosaur garden

    The Natural History Museum - One of my favorite scientists - Charles Darwin.

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    One of my favorite scientists - Charles Darwin.

    Garden Museum

    Garden Museum

    4.1(13 reviews)
    0.5 mi•Vauxhall, Southwark

    Small museum dedicated to gardening in London. The museum is housed inside an old church, so it is…read moreworth visiting just for the architecture alone. The actual exhibit about gardening, while interesting, is quite small. In the price of admission, you get access to climb their medieval tower to see views of London from above. The staircase is very, very narrow with low ceilings. I was too claustrophobic to make it up, although they do have a video of someone climbing the stairs and showing the view, so you can see what it's like. I got a student ticket which cost me £5 and that's really as much as I'd be willing to pay to come in. It's a nice place to kill about an hour, but unless you are really into gardening, this might not be the place for you.

    I'm a Landscape Designer from the United States. Finding this museum was much like finding the…read moreHoly Grail to me. When I first came here, it was the dead of Winter, so I didn't get to explore the garden. However, given that the garden is in an old Church Yard, and there are crypts scattered about; it was an awesome, albeit gloomy, sight. There were some delightfully daft exhibits up the next time I came. For instance, an exhibit of garden gnomes; one of which looked disturbingly like Tony Blair. I'm not joking, look at my posted pictures! The gift shop is also amazing.

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    Garden Museum
    Garden Museum - Altes Kirchenfenster "St Mary-at-Lambeth", by plainpixel.com

    Altes Kirchenfenster "St Mary-at-Lambeth", by plainpixel.com

    Garden Museum

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    The National Gallery - A full room of Rembrandts

    The National Gallery

    4.7(557 reviews)
    1.2 mi•Trafalgar Square

    Unlike many other art museums of similar caliber and vastness, the National Gallery has free…read moreadmission. I enjoyed walking through each of the main areas because I felt like I progressed through distinct eras of art history. If you want to rest your eyes from gazing at paintings, there is a nice balcony area that provides a view of Trafalgar Square and Big Ben in the distance. You can also grab a coffee and pastry as there's a small cafe near the main entrance. One special exhibit included the reunion of two famous impressionist paintings of La Grenouillère by Claude Monet and Pierre Auguste-Renoir. I feel fortunate to have viewed these two celebrated paintings side by side as I had learned that it's been nearly 20 years since the National Gallery reunited them in a public exhibit. Because of the significant amount of art you can view here with free admission, I'd definitely recommend visiting the National Gallery.

    I visited the National Gallery with my husband when we were exploring London for a few days earlier…read morethis month. The truth is we meant to visit the National Portrait Gallery (which is right around the corner), but I didn't realize my mistake until we were already trying to figure our way around the National Gallery and we decided to stay for a while. I found the museum difficult to navigate even with a map, so we just sort of wandered. We saw incredible paintings. The highlights for me were works by Henri Rousseau, Max Pechstein, Jan van Goyen Ferdinand Hodler... We saw an incredible Manet (The Execution of Maximilian) and a painting by Paul Gauguin that was unlike any other Gauguin I've ever seen. These were just some of my favorites, but the galleries are chronological and have works by every painter you could think of: Botticelli, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Gainsborough, Hogarth, Turner, Monet, Seurat, van Gogh... It's not your museum for modern and contemporary art, but if you're in the mood for European art from 1200-1900, the National Gallery will blow you away. They also host temporary exhibits and have several great options for a drink or a bite to eat. We stopped by Ochre, where we really enjoyed their happy hour. It's free to visit (although they appreciate donations), so you can pop in for however much time you have, whether that's a half our or three! The National Gallery might not have been our intended museum and we couldn't stay too long or miss out on the museum next door, but it really wowed me. Next time, I'll visit on purpose and save more time to explore and enjoy.

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    The National Gallery - Portrait of G.B. Cataneo Della Volta by Van Dyck at National Gallery

    Portrait of G.B. Cataneo Della Volta by Van Dyck at National Gallery

    The National Gallery - Portrait of Greta Moll by Matisse in National Gallery

    Portrait of Greta Moll by Matisse in National Gallery

    The National Gallery - Display Gallery at National Gallery

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    Display Gallery at National Gallery

    Tate Britain - Inside

    Tate Britain

    4.5(148 reviews)
    0.9 mi•Westminster
    •£

    I picked going to the Tate Britain over the Tate Modern because I thought it would be more…read moreaccessible, more doable, and I could only choose one. Well, wrong! This place had me occupied for several hours! I went to the Whistler exhibit and was blown away by it's depth and breath. A great spot to spend the afternoon.

    Tate Britain is a museum with the collection of some great Art work. I most enjoyed the display of…read moreart works of JMW Turner. The collection being called as "JMW Turner: Rise to Fame" is a beautiful collection of different art works created over several years by the artist. The works are displayed in a certain order. Admired closely along with the notes on display, almost feels like a story being told. Post the viewing of the entire collection, we stopped by to watch the 30 mins documentary being played on the artist and his works, it feels so good and achieved coz the documentary is such a great depiction and familiarisation of those paintings, the rationale of the order of their display and the history associated. The viewing felt like I was revising my already learnt syllabus :-). After finishing the documentary, then went back to see a couple of works again as some of those had been magnified and shown to such detail in the documentary that I got even more curious to have a second look! We took so much time to watch this collection, rather admire it, that rest of the collections din seem to impress us comparatively as much and hence we spent just a couple of hours to view the rest of the series. ** we love viewing art at all the museums that we come across, be it in other locations in the UK such as the beautiful assimilation in the museums in Scotland, in Italy particularly Florence and in Rome, in Austria, in Chicago and in London!! Art is never admired enough even if one as me is not much of a painter or a sculptor themselves :-b

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    Tate Britain
    Tate Britain - Paintings

    Paintings

    Tate Britain - Modern Art

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    Modern Art

    Churchill War Rooms

    Churchill War Rooms

    4.5(256 reviews)
    1.0 mi•Westminster

    This was by far the most interesting site we visited in London! We bought tickets a few days in…read moreadvance and came at 3p. There was no line and someone came to the door to get us. We checked in and grabbed out audio tour. There was a kid's version of the audio guide and it was great! You start off walking through the space and learning a bunch of history. A little before midway is the museum, which we spent of our time in. The exhibits and displays were very well put together and interactive. From there, we continue on the one-way path and saw where they did the mapping, which was largely unchanged and was my favorite room. We were there about 2 hours and felt that we saw everything.

    My husband and I visited the Churchill War Rooms when we were in London for a few days about two…read moreweeks ago, and it was fascinating. The Churchill War Rooms is a museum that allows you to visit the Cabinet War Rooms, the underground complex that housed a British government command center through the Second World War. Before the War, the British government estimated that aerial bombing of London could potentially kill 200,000 individuals per week. That ended up being an overestimation, but the British government knew they would need a secure place to run the government during bombing raids. The construction of the Cabinet War Rooms is the result. The War Rooms weren't in use by many staff at all times of the War, but they were used throughout the War. Churchill hated being in the War Rooms and was reluctant to spend much time there. When you visit, you can wander through the War Rooms. You can see the Cabinet Room through glass (the room where Churchill and his advisors met with the three chiefs of Staff). You can see the Map Room, Office-Bedrooms of important staff, Clementine Churchill's room, Churchill's Office-Bedroom, and more. There's also a Churchill Museum - a fairly large museum with Churchill artifacts and that tells the whole history of Churchill's life before, after, and during the War. The Churchill War Rooms are incredible and well worth a visit for anyone interested in the Second World War or Churchill. However, I had read that the museum gets very busy and crowded. That made me nervous, because I get grumpy in crowded spaces and inevitably just run through the space without paying much attention so that I can get out of there. Then I learned that they offer an early-bird tour, a guided tour that starts before the museum opens for the day. It costs about 20 pounds more than general admission, which I think is totally worth it. Since the tour occurs before the museum opens to the public and is guided, you can see and experience the museum in a much more in-depth way. Our tour guide was incredible. I learned so much from her. After the tour, you can get a headset and then head back into the museum to see any space you missed (the Churchill Museum is not included on the tour, so we wandered back to see some of that). Our tour started at 8:30 am, and when they let the public in at 9:30, the museum became totally packed! I didn't make it much longer since I couldn't get close to much with so many people in the museum. I highly recommend the early bird guided tour. But if that's not for you, I would recommend going later in the day. If you go when they open, you'll be going in with hundreds of people. Later in the day at least admission has been staggered! There's incredible history at the Churchill War Rooms. Incredible history to see and learn about. I think almost anyone would enjoy a visit here. I highly recommend it on a trip to London.

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    Churchill War Rooms - Churchill War Rooms_Yelp_Sanju-1

    Churchill War Rooms_Yelp_Sanju-1

    Churchill War Rooms - Front door

    Front door

    Churchill War Rooms - Entancd

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    Entancd

    The London Film Museum - One of many beautiful Bond cars on display

    The London Film Museum

    4.0(28 reviews)
    1.3 mi•Strand, Covent Garden

    The London Film Museum is essentially the James Bond Museum, with the "Bond in Motion" exhibits…read moreoccupying the vast majority of the space. It is a rather small museum though, and even if you take the time to look at every detail, one to two hours will be more than enough. The main exhibits are the hot cars that 007 gets to drive, as well as a few other cool surprises - remember the car that turned into a submarine when it hit the water (The Spy Who Loved Me)? Or the plane with folded wings that emerged from a trailer (Octopussy)? Many of those exhibits include detailed specifications as well as videos of the scenes that highlight the vehicles. Some exhibits also play the theme songs in the background. Other memorabilia that Bond fans would love include original costumes, props, photo of backstage scenes, theatrical posters, etc. Admission is GBP14.50 (about USD18), which is rather expensive for such a small place (hence only 4 stars). But Bond fans, don't you dare say it's too expensive so you'll never go. Never Say Never Again! You Only Live Twice! You can go tomorrow since Tomorrow Never Dies. Go see it with your own Golden Eye. After all, this museum is For Your Eyes Only...

    007 fans, you do NOT want to miss this!! This was only ever meant to be a temporary museum, but was…read moreso successful, they've opened it indefinitely. What you'll find in here is gold if you're a Bond fan; from the first ever original car insurance deal for filming, props used in the films like passports, keys, money to a range of vehicles used throughout all the films - it's well worth the money. Here's a tip - buying tickets online is actually more expensive than in person, only by a couple of pounds, but when there's six of you going, that's 6 coffees I could buy at Pret a Manger around the corner!!!! Keep your change, and buy when you get there.

    Photos
    The London Film Museum - Tacky, maybe, but I just had to...

    Tacky, maybe, but I just had to...

    The London Film Museum - Each car/vehicle had clips from relevant James Bond movies running in the background

    Each car/vehicle had clips from relevant James Bond movies running in the background

    The London Film Museum - Sketch in the upstairs exhibit

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    Sketch in the upstairs exhibit

    Tate Modern - Carpeted wall

    Tate Modern

    4.2(819 reviews)
    0.9 mi•South Bank, Southwark

    Marvelous place, the Tate Modern, though unfortunately my children did not see the appeal…read more I had fond memories of our first visit, back in 2010, and wanted to peek into the Tate during a family outing along South Bank last month. I love London's free museums, which make this sort of perfunctory drop-in both easy and practical. Our kids didn't like the Musée d'Orsay, so we didn't have high hopes for the Tate, especially after a long walk from the London Eye. We'd barely gotten them up the escalators and into one of the exhibit halls when they started saying they wanted to leave. We admired what we could of the heavy-hitting collection. We also talked to our children about some of the art, and maybe a trickle of it got through. There was a still life I loved, that turned out to be a Picasso, and a Mondrian painting I'm pretty sure I learned about in first or second grade. Our six-year-old volunteered that he liked a still life of a beer mug by Fernand Léger, and both kids were drawn, just a little, to Warhol's Marilyn Diptych. I hope the boys remember this quick visit, but if not, I certainly will. Maybe I'll bring them back when they're older, and we can give the Tate the time it deserves.

    I visited the Tate Modern for the first time earlier this month when I visited London for a few…read moredays with my husband. The Tate opened in 2000, but a new building opened in 2016. The museum is located in the former Bankside Power Station, and the museum's Turbine Hall is an incredibly large and open space (but I did wonder why they don't utilize the space to display any large sculptures since it's such an enormous and unused space). It's a striking space, it's one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the world. It's free to visit, but exhibits may have a cost unless you're a member of the museum. When we visited earlier this month, they had three exhibits: Frida: the Making of an Icon (though January 3, 2027); Ana Mendieta (through January 17, 2027); and Julio Le Parc: Light. Color. Action (through May 3, 2027). The Frida exhibit costs 25 pounds, the Mendieta 18 pounds, and the Le Parc 15 pounds. That means that if you wanted to visit all three exhibits, it would cost 58 pounds a person which is, I think, outrageous. I couldn't justify spending that much, so I picked one exhibit - the Frida exhibit - and then just explored the free galleries after our visit to the exhibit. The Frida exhibit (which was organized in collaboration was the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) was interesting. I've been lucky enough to see much of Frida Kahlo's works before in Mexico and Texas. But the exhibit included many works I had never seen before, and it also included works by artists that were friends or contemporaries of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and works by artists that were inspired by her. The inclusion of "Fridamania," the transformation of Kahlo into an icon, image, brand, made the exhibit different from other Frida exhibits I've seen. The exhibit was extremely crowded - but you have to expect that with an exhibit like this! I found the museum a little confusing to navigate, but we just wandered for the time that we had. Some of the works that really struck me were pieces by Gerhard Richter (the Cage paintings), Belkis Ayón, Sam Nhlengethwa, Carl-Henning Pedersen, Alberto Giacometti, David Hockney, Salman Toor, Mark Rothko, and more. The museum is definitely worth visiting, but I just didn't love it as much as I expected. Since it's free, I'm sure I'll be back to explore more of the permanent collection another time, but I did find it a little difficult to navigate and thought the exhibition admission prices were prohibitively expensive.

    Photos
    Tate Modern - Red Slate Circle - Richard Long, UK artist

    Red Slate Circle - Richard Long, UK artist

    Tate Modern
    Tate Modern - Frida: The Making of an Icon

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    Frida: The Making of an Icon

    Imperial War Museum - museums - Updated September 2026

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