# Best cities in the world for art museums



## MikeHunt (Nov 28, 2004)

What are your thoughts? My impressions are as follows:

1. NY, Paris and London (The usual trifecta):

NY: (a) The Met; (b) The MoMA; (c) The Guggenheim; (d) The Frick; 
(e) The Whitney; (f) The Jewish Museum; (g) The Nieu Gallery; 
(h) The Noguci Museum; (i) The Forbes Collection; (j) The Pierpont 
Morgan Collection; (k) The Cloisters...

Paris: (a) The Louvre; (b) The Dorsay; (c) The Picasso Museum....

London: (a) The National Gallery; (b) The Tate; (c) The Tate Modern; 
(d) The Royal Academy

2. Madrid, Philadelphia and DC Tie

Madrid: (a) The Prado; (b) The Reina Sophia; (c) The Thorsen....
Philly: (a) The PMA; (b) The Barnes Collection; (c) The Rodin Museum
DC: (a) The National Gallery; (b) The Corcoran; (c) The Sackler Gallery; 
(d) THe Phillips 

3. Chicago


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## CAESARS-PALACe (Jul 29, 2004)

Paris also has Centre Pompidou...

London also has the British Museum, Imperial War Museum....

Vatican City is one giant museum

Firenze has the Uffizi and the Galleria dell'Accademia


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## MikeHunt (Nov 28, 2004)

I forgot the Pompideu.

Good points re: Roma and Firenze.

However, isn't the Imperial War Museum not really an art museum _per se_? I forgot the British Museum and the V&A in London.

Also, I forgot the magnificent Brooklyn Museum in NYC.


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## wjfox (Nov 1, 2002)

I think the Louvre is probably the best individual gallery/museum.


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## MikeHunt (Nov 28, 2004)

I agree.


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## Accura4Matalan (Jan 7, 2004)

I've always thought Dutch cities we're pretty good when it comes to displaying modern art, so I'll go with Amsterdam.


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## Horace Lanando (May 21, 2004)

Topic creator, how come no other cities occupy the third tier? 

BTW, St. Petersburg is automatically on the second echelon by virtue of the Hermitage.


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## bnmaddict (Jan 6, 2005)

the list you gave is only an appetizer of Paris' Art menu:

Paris' Big Five Art museums:

- The Louvre: biggest and most famous museum in the world for most people, art from antiquity to the first half of the XIXth century.

- Orsay museum: biggest collection of XIXth century Art in the world, Impressionists (Degas, Sisley, Cezanne, Manet, Monet, Pissaro, Renoir, etc...), Neo and Post-Impressionists (Matisse, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, etc...), Symbolism (Munch, Klimt, Mucha, Hodler, etc...)

- Pompidou Center (NMoMA): second Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in the world after NYC's MoMA. 50.000 paintings and sculptures from the most famous modern and contemporary artists in the world

- Guimet museum: simply the first collection of Asian Art in the world oustide Asia

- Picasso museum: 250 paintings, 3000 drawings, hundreds of sculptures and plates, all the lithographies from one of the biggest modern art artist

Other Big Art museums in Paris:

- Decorative Arts museum: one of the biggest of its kind in one wing of the Louvre, outside the museum

- Cernuschi museum: Chinese and Japanese Art museum

- Rodin museum: all the sculptures of Rodin are here, most are originals from the Artist.

- Museum of Modern Art of the city of Paris: Huge modern art collection: Bourdelle, Léger, Delauney, Matisse, Picasso, Chagall, Dufy (La fée électricité, one of the biggest painting in the world -> 600m2), etc...

- Jacquemart-André museum: Fragonard, David, Rembrandt, Hals, Van Dyck, Tiepolo, Donatello, Ucello, Botticeli, Bellini, Mantegna, Carpaccio, etc...

- Institut du Monde Arabe (Arabian world institute)

- Jewish Art museum: one of the main collection in the world

- Cognacq-Jay museum: Rembrandt, Ruysdael, Chardin, Boucher, De la Tour, etc...

- Nissim de Camondo museum: Mainly decorative arts

- Bourdelle museum: One of the most famous French sculptor

- Zadkine museum: The most famous Post-Impressionist Russian artist

- Marmottan-Monet museum: All the Impressionists are present here, with the biggest collection of Monet paintings (among them, "Impressions Soleil Levant", the painting which gave its name to the Impressionism)

- Cluny museum: The major collection of art from the middle-ages

- Delacroix museum: Big collection of one of the most famous French artist

- Musée du jeu de pomme/ Orangerie: Impressionists again (Monet, manet, etc...)

- 3 Major museums will open in the next six monthes: museum of cinema (in a building by F.O.Gehry), museum of primitve arts (building by J. Nouvel, Art from south america, Oceania and Africa), Museum of Architecture (Chaillot, huge collection)

And that's only the museums of art, there's loads of other museums in Paris about ANY subject: 

- 3 major science and technology museums: "Arts et métiers" museum (technology), Palais de la Découverte (science, planetarium), Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (science and technology museum, Omnimax theater, 3D cinema, Motion cinema, Planetarium)

- A HUGE Natural History museum spreaded in many buildings (Grande Gallery de L'évolution, Museum of of Paleontology, museum of Geology, etc...)

- Museum of Fashion, Romantic life, Grévin (our Tussaud), Erotism, Naval History, Army, Air and Space (actually the biggest collection in the world with 150 planes, many spaceships, rockets, a Concorde, a 747, etc) and dozens of other in Paris and its suburbs...


Paris can definitely be considered the capital of museums (NYC being a strong contender too). :cheers:

PS: I'm sure Nick-Taylor will try to do a bigger list of London's museums


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## SHiRO (Feb 7, 2003)

How could you forget Amsterdam with the Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk museum and the Van Gogh museum?

Also, Hermitage Amsterdam (yes from _the_ Hermitage) and the Appel Foundation.


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## MikeHunt (Nov 28, 2004)

Good point about Amsterdam. St. Petersburgh also deserves mention.

However, other than these cities, can anyone think of ones with great museums. Many great cities don't have excellent museums. For example, cities like Boston, SF, Barcelona, Vienna, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Tokyo, etc. have good -- but not great -- museums. NY, London and Paris really dominate this realm.


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## Zarkon (Dec 22, 2004)

Rome, Florence, Paris, London, NYC ..


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## djm19 (Jan 3, 2005)

LA has some great museums


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## MikeHunt (Nov 28, 2004)

The Getty is supposedly awesome. I'm not aware of any other great LA museums though, which puts in on par with Chicago, for instance, in terms of having one great museum.

Are there any great LA ones (e.g., not on par with the Baltimore of Cleveland Museums of Art) that I'm missing?


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## bnmaddict (Jan 6, 2005)

djm19 said:


> LA has some great museums


True LACMA, the Getty center and the Huntington library are among the very good art museums in the world.


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## bnmaddict (Jan 6, 2005)

MikeHunt said:


> The Getty is supposedly awesome. I'm not aware of any other great LA museums though, which puts in on par with Chicago, for instance, in terms of having one great museum.
> 
> Are there any great LA ones (e.g., not on par with the Baltimore of Cleveland Museums of Art) that I'm missing?


I answered your question before you posted it!


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## MikeHunt (Nov 28, 2004)

Is the Huntington Library primarily a museum? I don't know it.


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## bnmaddict (Jan 6, 2005)

MikeHunt said:


> Is the Huntington Library primarily a museum? I don't know it.


Have a look at their collections!


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## Effer (Jun 9, 2005)

PARIS?


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## pricemazda (Feb 14, 2004)

everyone has forgot the British Museum, Natural History, Science Museum, Victoria and Albert, Museum of London, London Transport Museum, Cabinet War Rooms, HMS Belfast...


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## samsonyuen (Sep 23, 2003)

Montréal has some great institutions too!


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## bnmaddict (Jan 6, 2005)

pricemazda said:


> everyone has forgot the British Museum, Natural History, Science Museum, Victoria and Albert, Museum of London, London Transport Museum, Cabinet War Rooms, HMS Belfast...



"Natural History, Science Museum, Museum of London, London Transport Museum, Cabinet War Rooms, HMS Belfast" -> Art museums??? Which kind of art?


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## bnmaddict (Jan 6, 2005)

samsonyuen said:


> Montréal has some great institutions too!


-> Good, but certainly not great (I lived in Montreal during one year).


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## KGB (Sep 12, 2002)

I go to see a lot of art...and I rarely step foot in a "museum". The big institutional museums are nice, but they generally aren't on the cutting edge...they are mostly collecting institutions, of mostly well-known dead people.

99% of the time, I get my art fix elsewhere.








KGB


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## Storeman (Jun 24, 2005)

Don't forget about Berlin. It's probably not as good as London, Paris and probably Rome but I am sure that it comes close.


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## pricemazda (Feb 14, 2004)

my apologies i didn't see the 'art' bit of the title. 

OK, the National Portrait Gallery, Saatchi Gallery, Hayward Gallery, Dali Universe.


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## oduguy1999 (Jul 27, 2004)

Madrids golden mile is without a doubt one of the best in the world
1. Prado Museum(one of the best, if not the best classical painting museum in the world), beautiful roman busts and statues as well as the home to the treasue of the dauphin-a fascinating collection of jewelled and precious items
2. Thyssen(one of the greatest private collections of art spanning almost a 1000 yrs)
3. Reina Sofia(home of one of the greatest modern paintings of the 20th century-Picassos Guernica, modern art museum)
4. Royal Palace(home to the largest collection of tapestries in europe, an incredible assortment of clocks, musical instruments and furnishings, a grand armory, and many major works of art by tiepolo, goya, rubens, etc...
5. Archealogical museum(many roman frescos and tiles, an incredible replica of the prehistoric cave art of altimira, as well as various religious artifacts by christian and arab rulers
6. Museum of America-Home to the tri-cortesian codex from the maya civilization and many pricelss works of art from america
7. Museum of the arts(bellas artes)-collection of beautiful art and ornate furnishings of bygone times
8. El Escorial(in Madrid province) home to the second greatest library(in collections and rarity) to the Vaticans. Home to incredible murals, frescos and many priceless paintings.


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## TalB (Jun 8, 2005)

BTW, the MOMA in NYC has recently reopened after its expansion.


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## Chibcha2k (Oct 19, 2002)

Chicago, NY, London, Paris, Madrid, St. Petersburg, Buenos Aires...dunno which more.


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## Küsel (Sep 16, 2004)

New York, London, Paris are absolute top!
lesser: Sao Paulo, Chicago, Madrid, Amsterdam, St.Petersburg


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## pricemazda (Feb 14, 2004)

i forgot to mention the art hanging up in Buckingham palace that you can go see. 

I think The Queen is one of the worlds largest private art collectors. Most of her wealth is in art.


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## nick_taylor (Mar 7, 2003)

Yep the Queen has the largest private art collection. That said London does reasonably well when it comes to art - probably not to the level of Paris, but definately on par with New York (with a specialism more in modern than London which is classical). If though you factor in *all* museums then its without a doubt London right across the board. The British Museum is the world's largest (artifact content) and most visited museum on the planet, then you have the immense applied arts of the Victoria & Albert (which is the 2nd largest by artifact content in the world) which has one of the nicest frontages of all museums in the world. To top it off there is also the Natural History Museum which has the largest collection of natural specimens (including a whole wing devoted to the works of Darwin and evolution - not one for creationists :laugh: ) on the planet all within an immense building. There is nothing like the Albertopolis (V&A, Natural History + Science Museums) anywhere else on the face of the planet!

All 300+ museums and art galleries (unless private) are totally free to anyone - Londoner or foreign tourist. No other city can claim such a diverse range of museums AND have all of them being *free*!


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## Khanabadosh (Nov 16, 2004)

Amsterdam has number of world class musuems. Follow the link http://www.amsterdam.info/museums/


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## Khanabadosh (Nov 16, 2004)

Another link for Amsterdam museums.
http://www.amsterdammuseums.nl/eng/museums/index.htm


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## tocoto (Jan 18, 2003)

Boston has the museum of fine art
Isabel Stuart Gardener museum
Harvard art museums
Decordova museum
Museum of contemporay with its dramatic new waterfront building u/c.

Boston certanly has some of the best Art museums in the US.


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## bnmaddict (Jan 6, 2005)

nick-taylor said:


> If though you factor in *all* museums then its without a doubt London right across the board. The British Museum is the world's largest (artifact content) and most visited museum on the planet, then you have the immense applied arts of the Victoria & Albert (which is the 2nd largest by artifact content in the world) which has one of the nicest frontages of all museums in the world. To top it off there is also the Natural History Museum which has the largest collection of natural specimens (including a whole wing devoted to the works of Darwin and evolution - not one for creationists :laugh: ) on the planet all within an immense building. There is nothing like the Albertopolis (V&A, Natural History + Science Museums) anywhere else on the face of the planet!


About The Louvre, Pompidou center and the British museum number of visitors:
- What I found about the Louvre 

- What I found about the British museum

- What I found about the Pompidou center 

The Louvre got more visitors until 2003, but I'm sure you'll tell me there was a HUGE increase of the number of visitors in 2004 that made the British museum the most visited museum in the world...

When you say that: "If though you factor in *all* museums then its without a doubt London right across the board" why would we believe you??? Damn, I have some strong doubts considering NYC and Paris


For exemple, in Paris: 


There's *3 science and technology museums*:

- Musée des arts et métiers (Technology and inventions museum): link, a VERY BIG museum, perhaps my favorite museum in Paris, there you can see: the first camera, the first movie camera, and loads of original inventions about any field of technology, in a huge building and in the second oldest Paris' church!

- Palais de la découverte: in a wing of the "Grand Palais" a huge science museum (the kind of museum where you can do some experimentations, I don't like it)

- Cité des Arts et de l'industrie: A HUGE science and technology museum (link) and a little picture of the museum:

To give you an idea of the museum's size, the metalic sphere is an Imax theater (Omnimax precisely, the geode). There's also a planetarium, a 3D movie theater, and a Star-tour like motion theater in the museum.



Paris *museum of Natural history is composed of many different museums * in and around the "Jardin des plantes" in Paris:

- "Grande galerie de l'évolution": the main building of the museum, here are some little pics







- museum of Paleontology and anatomy, some pics:









- Museum of Geology:



There's also the museum of Entomology (insects) and one of Paleo-botanic.
They are all parts of the National museum of Natural History.



And you can add loads of other huge museums, in Paris city or metro, as a Fashion museum, an Erotism museum, an Archelogy museum (biggest collection of art and objects from the prehistoric times, as the first known scultpure of a human face), the Air and Space museum at the Bourget airport (150 planes, many rockets and spaceships, one of the biggest of its kind in the world), a museum about advertising, a Naval History museum and hundreds of other! In fact you can find a museum about any subject in Paris.

*PS: Sorry for this little break which has nothing to do with Art museums*


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## SE9 (Apr 26, 2005)

oh btw all museums and art galleries in London are free!



The Science Museum, London












>The First steam Locomotive (train) [Stevenson's Rocket]










> Imax Cinema

> The first Jet Engine

> "The Science Museum holds the world's largest and most significant collection illustrating the history and contemporary practice of science"
http://www.tourist-information-uk.com/science-museum.htm


>The Museum welcomes about 1.6 million visitors per year and is one of the top ten tourist attractions in the UK.


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## bnmaddict (Jan 6, 2005)

SE9 said:


> oh btw all museums and art galleries in London are free!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 et: Among the 3 science and technology museums I was talking about, the "Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie" *alone* attracts more than 3 millions visitors per year: link

"The Science Museum holds the world's largest and most significant collection illustrating the history and contemporary practice of science"-> from a uk's tourist informaton site, I'm not surprised...

London science museum is really great, I visited it (in 1998, I think). But come on, how could it be better than the 3 huge science museums in Paris together.

There's three Imax theaters in Paris metro:
- the geode: Omnimax theater
- the Imax theater of Disneyland Paris
- The "dôme de la Defense": omnimax, biggest hemispheric theater in the world, closed for renovation.


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## pricemazda (Feb 14, 2004)

A-C

Age Exchange Reminiscence Centre
Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum
All Hallows-by-the-Tower Undercroft Museum
Anaesthesia Heritage Centre
Apsley House - the Duke of Wellington's London house
Arsenal Football Club Museum
Baden-Powell House Exhibition
Bank of England Museum
Banqueting House
Barnet Museum
Benjamin Franklin House
Ben Uri Gallery, The London Jewish Museum of Art
Berkshire and Westminster Dragoons Museum
Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum
Bexley Museum
Black Cultural Archives
Boston Manor House
Bramah Tea and Coffee Museum
Britain At War Experience
British Dental Association Museum
British Library
British Museum - national collection of antiquities
British Optical Association Museum
British Postal Museum and Archive
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Bromley Museum
Brooking Collection of Architectural Detail
Bruce Castle Museum
Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies
Brunel Engine House
BT Archives
Buckingham Palace
Building Centre Gallery
Canada House Gallery
Carlyle's House
Cartoon Art Trust
Charles Dickens Museum
Chartered Insurance Institute Museum
Chelsea Physic Garden
Chiswick House
Church Farmhouse Museum
Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms
Clarence House
Clink Prison Museum
Clockmakers' Museum
College of Arms
Couper Collection
Courtauld Gallery - old masters and impressionists
Crofton Roman Villa
Crossness Pumping Station
Crown Jewels
Croydon Lifetimes Museum
Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society
Crystal Palace Museum
Cuming Museum
Cutty Sark Museum
[edit]
D-G

Dali Universe
Danson House
De Morgan Centre
Dennis Severs' House, 18 Folgate Street
Design Museum
Dr Johnson's House
Dorich House
Drapers Company Collections
Dulwich Picture Gallery - collection of old masters
Eastside Community Heritage
Eltham Palace
Erith Museum
Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art
Fan Museum
Fashion and Textile Museum
Fenton House
Firepower: The Royal Artillery Museum
Florence Nightingale Museum
Forty Hall Museum
Foundling Museum
Freud Museum
Fulham Palace
Galton Collection
Garrick's Temple
Geffrye Museum
Gilbert Collection - decorative arts
Golden Hinde
Grange Museum of Community History
Grant Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy
Great Ormond Street Hospital Museum and Archive
Greenwich Heritage Centre
Greenwich Hospital
Greenwich Visitor Centre
Guards' Museum
Guide Heritage Centre
Guildhall Art Gallery
Guildhall Library
Gunnersbury Park Museum
[edit]
H-M

Hackney Museum
Ham House, Richmond
Hampstead Museum
Hampton Court - a former royal palace
Handel House Museum
Harrow Museum
Hermitage Rooms
HMS Belfast
Hogarth's House
Honeywood Heritage Centre
Honourable Artillery Company Museum
Horniman Museum
House Mill Museum at Three Mills
Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons
Imperial War Museum - museum of warfare in the 20th and 21st centuries
Inns of Court and City Yeomanry Museum
Institute of Archaeology Collections
Island History Trust
Islington Museum
Jewel Tower
Jewish Military Museum and Memorial Room
Jewish Museum (Camden)
Jewish Museum (Finchley)
Keats' House
Kennel Club Art Gallery
Kensington Palace
Kenwood House - mansion and collection of old masters
Kew Bridge Steam Museum
Kew Gardens Museum No.1 and Marianne North Gallery
Kew Transport Museum
Kingston Museum
Kirkaldy Testing Museum
Leighton House Museum
Library and Museum of Freemasonry
Linnean Society Collections
Linley Sambourne House
Little Holland House
Livesey Museum for Children
London Canal Museum
London Dungeon
London Fire Brigade Museum
London Motorcycle Museum
London Sewing Machine Museum
London Toy and Model Museum
London's Transport Museum
London Zoo
Madame Tussaud's London
Magic Circle Museum
Manor Park Museum
Marble Hill House
Markfield Beam Engine and Museum
Marx Memorial Library
MCC Museum
Merton Heritage Centre
Michael Faraday Museum
Museum in Docklands
Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture
Museum of Garden History
Museum of Immigration and Diversity
Museum of London - the history of London
Museum of Richmond
Museum of Rugby
Museum of the Order of St John
Museum of Veterinary History
Musical Museum
[edit]
N-R

National Archives
National Army Museum
National Gallery - national collection of Western painting to 1900
National Maritime Museum
National Museum of Childhood
National Portrait Gallery
Natural History Museum
The Newsroom - Guardian and Observer Archive and Visitor Centre
North Woolwich Old Station Museum
Old Operating Theatre
Old Speech Room Gallery, Harrow School
Orleans House Gallery
Osterley Park
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art
Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
Pitshanger Manor
Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum
Pollock's Toy Museum
Prince Henry's Room
Pumphouse Educational Museum
Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge
Queen's Gallery - exhibitions of items from the Royal Collection
Queen's House - the first Palladian building in England
Ragged School Museum
Ranger's House (Wernher Collection)
Red House
Redbridge Museum
Riesco Gallery
Rose Theatre Exhibition
Royal Academy of Arts
Royal Air Force Museum
Royal College of Music Archives and Museum of Instruments
Royal College of Physicians Collections
Royal Fusiliers Museum
Royal Hospital Chelsea
Royal Institute of British Architects Collections
Royal Greenwich Observatory
Royal London Hospital Archives and Museum
Royal Mews - the Queen's stables
Royal Military School of Music Museum
Royal Mint Sovereign Gallery
Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum
Royal Philatelic Collection
[edit]
S-Z

St Bartholomew's Hospital Museum
St Paul's Cathedral Crypt Museum
Salvation Army International Heritage Centre
Science Museum - national museum of science and technology
Sherlock Holmes Museum
Shakespeare’s Globe Exhibition
Sir John Soane's Museum
Smythson Stationery Museum
Somerset House
South London Gallery
Southside House
Spencer House
Stephens Collection
Sutton House
Tate Britain - national collection of British art
Tate Modern - national collection of modern art
Theatre Museum
Tower Bridge
Tower of London - fortress and former royal residence
Twinings Museum
Two Willow Road
Twickenham Museum
Type Museum
UCL Collections - arts, ethnography, geology and science
Valence House Museum
Vestry House Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum - national collection of applied arts
Wallace Collection - old masters and decorative arts
Wandle Industrial Museum
Wandsworth Museum
Wellcome Library
Wellcome Museum of Anatomy and Pathology
Wellington Arch
Wesley's Chapel and the Museum of Methodism
West Ham United Museum
Westminster Abbey Museums - venue of British royal coronations
Westminster Dragoons Museum
Whitehall, Cheam
Whitewebbs Museum of Transport
William Morris Gallery
Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum
Wimbledon Society Museum of Local History
Wimbledon Windmill Museum
Women's Library
Young's Ram Brewery


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## bnmaddict (Jan 6, 2005)

^^ Now, can you please tell us what every of those museums have which is outstanding (as I did for the best museums in Paris)?


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## pricemazda (Feb 14, 2004)

yes i am going to spend my time writing a blurb on 300 museums.

But there a big and small museums, some with amazing collections others with one or two prize exhibits. 

London has more the 1 Imax as well.


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## Siopao (Jun 22, 2005)

Paris -- The Louvre of course 
Madrid -- Prado


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## Guest (Aug 17, 2005)

While London shares honors with New York, Berlin and Paris as a center of art trade, it hasn't been the world's center of modernism, zietgiest or otherwise, since--well, never.


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## pricemazda (Feb 14, 2004)

London has never been the centre of zeitgeist?


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## Guest (Aug 17, 2005)

In Modernism as the art world understands it? Ah, no. Unless you count the Yellow Book Movement.


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## DrJekyll (Sep 23, 2004)

Museo del Prado in Madrid is unbelievable


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## MikeHunt (Nov 28, 2004)

DrJekyll said:


> Museo del Prado in Madrid is unbelievable


I agree. It's great!


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

benmabillon said:


> Every single one of your claims is false spliff fairy but this one is the most obviously wrong. The Tate does not even pretend to have the largest modern art gallery. This is clearly the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Also London is not "the" centre of Art Trade: it has to fight with New York City (and Paris for Objets d'Arts and Arts Premiers). Also the Louvre far far surpasses the British Museum and the National Gallery combined in quantity, quality, setting, fame and the number of visitors. You should also be more precise when you talk about 20,000 paintings and drawings...any decent public collection owns drawings by the tens of thousands....and also the 'milion exhibits' you mention: any Museum that covers prehistoric times own 'milions' of tiny pieces of stones....that does not make it a world class institution!
> Paris with the Louvre (the world's premier Museum), Orsay, the Orangerie, Pompidou/Beaubourg, the yearly breakthrough exhibitions at the Grand Palais, Cluny (medieval times), the soon-to-open Quai Branly (the world's premiers musuem of primitive arts), Guimet (the world's premier Asian Arts Museum), Cernuschi (its smaller brother by the city of Paris), the Arts Decoratifs/ Camondo, Galliera (on Fashion), the sublimely refurbished Petit Palais (the city of Paris' gallery of paintings and antiques), Carnavalet, the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris in the Palais de Tokyo, the great Picasso Museum, countless artist's houses filled with premier works by their owners (Rodin, Bourdelle, Zadkine, Delacroix, Gustave-Moreaux, Hébert and so on) Versailles and its Museum....



er, actually Tate Modern IS the worlds largest modern art gallery (not to be confused with the largest collection). And youre right about the Louvre's paintings, they number 40,000 in comparison to the National Gallery that houses 2300. But in regards to th British Museum and V & A you can't slate me for saying tehy have 6 million and 4 million exhibits a piece as that IS true - *please show me, and everyone, exactly where every one of these 'claims' is 'false and obviously wrong'.*, and no, they are definitely NOT all little stones as you would like to imply. They include priceless exhibits and treasures, albeit not paintings as they specialise in applied arts or antiquities, of which British Museum is acclaimed as the worlds greatest in collection.

The Royal Collection is the worlds largest, I actually put up the figure of 20,000 paintings and drawings to more accurately show that it wasn't all paintings (that belongs to the Louvre), but in terms of collections including antiques and objets 'd'art it IS the largest by far. Don't try and tarnish me that this is misinformation.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

Flatiron said:


> "London - its the centre of the world art trade and, until Berlin usurped it about 4 years ago, was the zeitgeist centre of the modern art movement."
> 
> For class A dumbness, this is right up there with Earlybird's comment that Fallingwater was smaller than a lot of homes in Manchester and therefore wasn't as good.



London is a world vcentre for the art trade and deals huge amounts of the stuff from modern to antiques. There was also the 'BritArt' movement of the 90s that saw in a huge sector arise for creativity, highlighted by the Sensation exhibition in 1997 - there were nearly a million artists in the country nearer the end of the movement, and stands as a legacy of that era. (In)famously the MOMA in NYC has collected little for that time and is one of its criticisms that it is degenerating from the pulse of modern art to more the 'warehouse' of modern art. From the turn of the millennium the collectors (and artists) have moved to spotlight Berlin where much of the work is painting based, notably Charles Saatchi, one of the big players and famous now for his rejection of Brit Art.


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## nick_taylor (Mar 7, 2003)

Regarding modern art - a wonderful article from The Times from a New York Times critic!


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## Guest (Aug 22, 2005)

That article is pretty laughable.


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## nick_taylor (Mar 7, 2003)

Of course you would find it laughable - its taking chunks out of New York and thats even from a *New York Times* art critic who has more knowledge of art than yourself.


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## Guest (Aug 22, 2005)

Kimmelman is a fine critic, but not the NY Times' only critic by any means, and the London Times article jumps to so many conclusions I'm surprised the words "boing, boing, boing" don't appear in there somewhere.

And of course the reference to American money being what's behind it all at the end is very telling. I suppose most Brits don't collect beyond their shores what with the whole Lord Elgin approach not being very popular abroad these days.


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## nick_taylor (Mar 7, 2003)

You mean *The Times*, but alas there is no "boing, boing, boing" but more a kidney punch "smack"! Also what is wrong with the Lord Elgin approach? Is there something wrong with legally purchasing artifacts (hence requests rather than a legal battle), because I see other major institutions in similar positions - or did these artifacts appear there themselves. :laugh:

Also why buy, when you can donate! Not only that but it helps to have a home-grown natural talent of which to purchase from in the first place.....which New York seems to be lagging behind and it so happens the article talks about this!


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## Guest (Aug 22, 2005)

1.	
The article treats Kimmelman’s words as benediction from up-on-high. In London were all that, it wouldn’t much matter what one American critic has to say.
2.	
This article was published in 2003. Since then the British wacky-quilt approach to hanging art has become somewhat passé over here.
3.	
To hang all one’s hopes on the likes of Charles Saatchi is to suggest the ultimate shot-in-the-dark.
4.	
Particularly when you realize that he just blew off the artists he once cultivated.
5.	
And managed to lose a great deal of what he actually liked in a warehouse disaster.
6.	
Are the Met and MoMA collecting Jackson Pollacks instead of Damian Hursts? Good for them. The rest of what the article states about NY museums is so wrong its hard to know where to begin—for one the Guggenheim’s downtown plans were canceled due to post 9/11 worries and new building codes for the Wall Street area as much as any financial concerns—does The Times in London employ fact-checkers? 
7.	
Of course, as I said—the article states that American money is behind London’s “success.” Americans collect modern art internationally. The Brits don’t.
8.	
The writer has evidently not heard of PS1, New York’s most aggressive contemporary arts museum, and an ally of MoMA. As of this date, the current show represents 220 New York based artists in a comprehensive show of the current scene. 
9.	
Did Elgin obtain the Parthenon marbles legally? This will be news to the Greek government.


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## nick_taylor (Mar 7, 2003)

I shall dismiss your points, as the article speaks for itself. Yet regarding the Elgin marbles, where has international law been broken regarding the purchase of the marbles? If you have looked at the appropiate documents regarding incidents of selling/purchasing international antiquities you would note that Elgin is not in the wrong. This is why no legal challenge has been brought forward.


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## Guest (Aug 22, 2005)

"I shall dismiss your points, as the article speaks for itself."

Naturally--ignoring facts is what the British, whether journalists or not, seem to do best.


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## nick_taylor (Mar 7, 2003)

Nope - taking away the non-relevant peices from a factual point. Then again isn't ignoring facts your speciality?


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## frankiego (Jun 15, 2005)

I still belive Rome in the best city .
The entire city is a work of art !


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## pricemazda (Feb 14, 2004)

basically the flatiron you are saying that you in your infinite wisdom think the New York Times Art critic is wrong. 

Maybe you should start writing a column.


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