Музеи Лондона

Contents


Introduction…………………………………………………………………….3

Chapter I Architectural Museums

Buckingham Palace……………………………………………………………………………..5
Tower of London……………………………………………………………………………....6
Hampton Court…………………………………………………………………………………9
St. Paul Cathedral……………………………………………………………………………...10
St. James Palace………………………………………………………………………………..13
Westminster Abbey…………………………………………………………………………....14
House of Parliament…………………………………………………………………………...16
Big Ben………………………………………………………………………………………...21

Chapter II. Museums of Arts

National Gallery……………………………………………………………………………….22
Imperial Museum……………………………………………………………………………...25
Museum of London……………………………………………………………………………26
Victoria and Albert Museum…………………………………………………………………..27
The British Museum…………………………………………………………………………...28
TheLondon Palace of The Duke of Wellington………………………………………………30
Bank of England Museum……………………………………………………………………..31

Chapter III. Entertainment Museums

Madame’s Tussaud……………………………………………………………………………32
London Planetarium…………………………………………………………………………..33
London Transport Museum……………………………………………………………………34

Chapter IV. Scientific and Natural Museums

Natural History Museum……………………………………………………………………….35
Science Museum………………………………………………………………………………..37

Chapter V. Museums in honour of famous people

Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Walls……………………………………………………39
Jewish Museum………………………………………………………………………………...41
Dickens’ Museum………………………………………………………………………………43
Freud Museum…………………………………………………………………………….……45
Dr. Johnson House……………………………………………………………………………..47

Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………………49

List of used literature…………………………………………………………………………50

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The Bombing of 1941
On 10 May 1941, the Commons Chamber was destroyed by bombs and a subsequent fire. To replace the devastated Chamber, a new block was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. A steelframed building, it effectively incorporates five floors, two of which are taken by up the Chamber.
Both above and below it are offices. The new air-conditioned Chamber was used for the first time on 26 October 1950. In Parliament 1939-50 (produced by the House of Commons Library and available for purchase from The Stationery Office)1 explains and illustrates the bombing andreconstruction.
The building is on four main levels. The ground floor river front houses offices, private dining rooms, bars and meeting rooms; the first or principal floor the Chambers, Libraries, and dining rooms. The second or Committee floor is given over on the river front to Committee rooms, as is the third or Upper Committee floor. At either end are houses for the Speaker and Lord
Chancellor (the remnant of a number of private apartments once provided) and there are two great towers, the Clock Tower (often called Big Ben) and the Victoria Tower. The very distinctive
Central Tower is built over the Central Lobby.
Along the whole length of the building, at ground level parallel to the river, is a roadway leading into several courtyards, with a further line of courts on the west side. The arches over the roadway are made to the dimensions of horse-drawn carts, and are difficult to traverse with modern delivery lorries.
Many works of art are displayed in the Palace. Notable among the statues are the modern bronzes of Churchill, Lloyd George and Attlee, in the Members’ Lobby; and a marble statue of Gladstone in the Central Lobby. Barry, the architect of the Palace, is commemorated by a large marble statue at the foot of the main staircase leading to the Committee floor. There are numerous frescoes and mural paintings as well as a most extensive collection of free-hanging pictures of subjects connected with British, particularly Parliamentary, history. A series of reconstructions of the paintings which were found in the old St Stephen’s Chapel in the early 19th century are on the Terrace Stairs. Many of the items of furniture and fittings of the Palace, in which the design and influence of Augustus Welby Pugin is clearly seen, can be classed as works of art in their own right. The fine mediaeval statues of kings at the south end of Westminster Hall were conserved in 1992/93.
Stone Restoration and Conservation
The Palace was faced with Anston stone, a magnesian limestone. However the alkaline stone suffered badly because of the atmospheric pollution of London, especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with its reliance on the burning of coal, and consequent acidification of the rain.
The decision was therefore taken in 1928 to replace the worst decay, and a general programme of masonry replacement on the perimeter was finished in 1960.
Many of the statues placed round the outside of the building had decayed badly and, from 1962, many have been replaced. A new programme of stone-cleaning and restoration was started in 1981: the north, west, and south fronts, the river front and Clock Tower being finished by 1986. The Victoria Tower, whose cleaning was completed in 1993, was the last part of the exterior to be dealt with. Of the inner courts the Speaker’s Court was the first to be tackled; work started in January 1994. An exhibition on the Restoration Programme was mounted in Westminster Hall from January – April 1994.
The House of Commons has taken over other nearby buildings as its functions and staff have increased. These include the two Norman Shaw Buildings. It expanded further, into numbers 35-47 Parliament Street renamed the Parliament Street Building, in 1991. A new Parliamentary building, designed by Michael Hopkins and called Portcullis House, was completed in Autumn 2000 on the site of numbers 1 and 2 Bridge Street, St Stephen’s House, St Stephen’s Club and Palace Chambers. The new building has provided additional committee rooms, refreshment facilities and Members now all have their own offices for the first time.
Control of the Houses of Parliament, as a Royal Palace, was vested in the Lord Great Chamberlain as the Queen’s representative. In 1965, however, control passed to the Speaker, for the House of Commons part of the building, and to the Lord Chancellor, for the Lords’ part.
The Lord Great Chamberlain retains joint responsibility with the Speaker and Lord Chancellor for the Crypt Chapel and Westminster Hall. The Parliamentary Estate is cared for and maintained (since 1992) by the Parliamentary Works Directorate of the Serjeant at Arms Department. The title to the outbuildings was transferred from the Department of the Environment following passage of the Parliamentary Corporate Bodies Act 1992.
The Palace is very much a living community, whose citizens are not only Members, but their personal staffs, maintenance and cleaning personnel, and permanent House staff, who work in many different offices and departments. The Palace is not, however, simply a place for work.
There are a number of social clubs and groups, places for recreation, sitting and talking, sleeping, eating and drinking. It is not, therefore, simply a huge office block peopled from 9 to 5 and at other times absolutely deserted – indeed, it has a resident population, for there are still some apartments for officers and staff of the Houses. It was designed as, and remains, something of a village.
Big Ben
Big Ben is one of London's best-known landmarks, and looks most spectacular at night when the clock faces are illuminated. You even know when parliament is in session, because a light shines above the clock face.
The four dials of the clock are 23 feet square, the minute hand is 14 feet long and the figures are 2 feet high. Minutely regulated with a stack of coins placed on the huge pendulum, Big Ben is an excellent timekeeper, which has rarely stopped.
The name Big Ben actually refers not to the clock-tower itself, but to the thirteen ton bell hung within. The bell was named after the first commissioner of works, Sir Benjamin Hall.
This bell came originally from the old Palace of Westminster, it was given to the Dean of St. Paul's by William III. Before returning to Westminster to hang in its present home, it was refashioned in Whitechapel in 1858. The BBC first broadcast the chimes on the 31st December 1923 - there is a microphone in the turret connected to Broadcasting House.
During the second world war in 1941, an incendiary bomb destroyed the Commons chamber of the Houses of Parliament, but the clock tower remained intact and Big Ben continued to keep time and strike away the hours, its unique sound was broadcast to the nation and around the world, a welcome reassurance of hope to all who heard it.
There are even cells within the clock tower where Members of Parliament can be imprisoned for a breach of parliamentary privilege, though this is rare; the last recorded case was in 1880.
The tower is not open to the general public, but those with a "special interest" may arrange a visit to the top of the Clock Tower through their local (UK) Member of Parliament.
Chapter II. Museums of Arts
National Gallery
National Gallery houses one of the greatest collections of European painting in the world. In April 1824 the House of Commons agreed to pay £57,000 for the picture collection of the banker John Julius Angerstein. The 38 pictures were intended to form the core of a new national collection, for the enjoyment and education of all. Until a gallery building was constructed, the pictures were displayed at Angerstein's house in Pall Mall.4
From the outset, the National Gallery has been committed to education. Students have always been admitted to the Gallery to study the collection, and to make copies of the pictures. A vibrant education programme continues today for school children, students, and the general public. The programme includes free public lectures, tours and seminars.
The National Gallery was established for the benefit of all. With a commitment to free admission, a central and accessible site, and extended opening hours the Gallery has ensured that its collection can be enjoyed by the widest public possible, and not become the exclusive preserve of the privileged. The Gallery continues to pursue a vigorous and socially inclusive outreach programme, and caters to the needs of all groups in society.
Public criticism of the inadequate accommodation for the growing national collection, led to the decision to construct a purpose-built gallery. A site in Trafalgar Square was chosen, as the crossroads of London, where the collection would be accessible to the rich people travelling from West London in their carriages, and on foot to the poor of the East End.
The site occupied by the National Gallery, between the north side of Trafalgar Square and Orange Street, has had a history of successive developments.
These have been largely prompted by the continuous growth of the collection and more recently by the growing demand for ancillary spaces due to changing visitor needs and expectations.
The Gallery is widely recognised as a building of immense importance, confirmed by its Grade 1 status, and the existing building is the cumulative effort of many generations of architects. The principal significance of the interiors lies in their overall layout and architectural quality at the main gallery level.
The National Gallery in London is home to one of the greatest collections of western European painting in the world. More than 2300 paintings embrace the years between 1250 and 1900. The entire collection is on display in four wings on the main floor where they are arranged by period: 1250-1500, 1500-1600, 1600-1700, and 1700-1900. In addition paintings are displayed on a lower floor. To help the visitor manage the large number of paintings and galleries, various trails and audio guides are provided.
Monet, Rembrandt, and Leonardo da Vinci are just three of the renowned artists represented. Van Gogh's famous "Sunflowers" and John Constable's "The Hay Wain" are part of the collection. Other painters represented include Rubens, Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Michelangelo, and Raphael.5
One section of the Gallery called Puzzling Pictures contains pictures with some aspect of history or unusual subject that raises questions. Pictures can give clues to the culture and decorative arts of the time as well as to the inventions of the period. This is an interesting approach to the pictures that is recognized in the Gallery. 6
The collection is not static. Acquisitions are added whenever possible, and private collectors loan their paintings to the Gallery. The Gallery also puts on exhibitions. "Painting the Family" was one such exhibition. By studying a group of paintings, many clues to family life over the centuries are discovered. In 2002 special exhibits will include one on Madame de Pompadour and one on dress and drapery in painting.
The Gallery mounts touring exhibitions to cities throughout Britain. Study courses and lectures are also available at the Gallery. Scientific methods of today uncover much information. Curators and conservators at the Gallery study pictures to learn about the painter, his methods, and materials.
The National Gallery was born in 1824 when the House of Commons bought a collection of 38 paintings from a banker, John Julius Angerstein, who then opened his home for viewing the collection. As the collection grew through donations and purchases, the need for a permanent and larger gallery was answered in 1831 with a building in Trafalgar Square, a spot accessible to all levels of society. The location was the former home of the King's Mews.
A new wing (the Gallery's dome is here) containing seven more rooms was added in 1876. In 1907 construction began on still more galleries, and they were opened in 1910. The three mosaic pavements on the gallery floors were laid in 1928. The gallery was further extended in 1972 with the addition of 12 rooms. The most recent addition was in 1991 when the Sainsbury wing opened. Recently refurbished, its 16 rooms display artwork arranged by artist or school.7
The National Gallery was the target of several bombings during World War II. Fortunately, the government had foreseen this possibility and evacuated the paintings to various locations. In 1940 they were re-collected and stored in a slate mine, Manod Quarry, near Ffestiniog, Wales. 200 feet of solid rock protected them.
The National Gallery is a must see for art students and a mecca for lovers of western European painting.
Imperial War Museum
The museum illustrates and records all aspects of the Two World Wars and other military operations involving Britain and the Commonwealth since 1914. The Museum has a vast collections of exhibits and employs all the latest technology to make its exhibits appealing to the visitor.
There are permanent exhibitions including Secret War - the clandestine world of espionage and Conflicts since 1945 - conflicts world-wide which have involved British Commonwealth troops. There are art galleries, special exhibitions for children and workshops.
The museum has an ongoing programme of special exhibitions and events including film shows and lectures. There is a large amount of military reference material which can be accessed by the public, although some reference departments are open to the public by appointment only.
Museum of London
London is arguably the most exciting city in the world. With a population of ten million, each year it attracts four times as many tourists from all over the globe. People have always been drawn to London, resulting in the rich cultural diversity that the city enjoys today. As well being one of the world's most important commercial and financial centers, it is also a magnet for lovers of culture, the arts, fashion and food.
A complex and exciting city deserves a dedicated museum that entertains, informs and inspires. The Museum of London fulfils that function by bringing the history of the city to life through its rich collections, presented to the visitor in fascinating reconstructions and displays that use state of the art technology and the latest design techniques.8
The Museum runs a varied and comprehensive programme of events to complement its exhibitions and displays. For adults these include gallery talks, lectures, guided tours, curators' workshops, walks, debates, visits, seminars, evening courses and special evening events. A lively choice of activities is also available for families and children at weekends and in school holidays.
The Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert is the greatest museum of art and design, a world treasure house with collections of fabulous scope and diversity.
Share in 3000 years' worth of amazing artefacts from many of the world' richest cultures. Be inspired by ceramics, furniture, fashion, glass, jewellery, metalwork, photographs, sculpture, textiles and paintings. Experience the largest collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture outside Italy; enjoy the national collection of the paintings of John Constable; see the world renowned fashion collection; marvel at the Raphael cartoons and explore the national collection of the art of photography.
Inspirational, beautiful and unmatched in scope, the stunning British Galleries 1500 - 1900 tell the story of British design from the Tudor age to the Victorian era. From Chippendale to Morris, and Adam to Mackintosh, all of the top British Designers are represented along with some of Britain's most significant cultural treasures such as Henry VII's writing desk and the famous Great Bed of Ware. The wealth of exhibits is enhanced by computer interactives, objects to handle, video screens and audio programmes, ensuring a stimulating visitor experience to be enjoyed by all ages.
In addition to the permanent displays, there is an exciting programme of exhibitions, displays, activities and contemporary events. Join one of our many free guided tours and gallery talks or take a 'Trail' and discover the Museum at your own speed.
The British Museum
The British Museum is the oldest, and one of the largest museums in the world. Where else can you see some of the greatest treasures of all time under one roof? Here you can see at first hand The Elgin Marbles, The Portland Vase, The Lewis Chessmen, The Sutton Hoo Treasure, to name only a few of the wondrous collections awaiting you. You will be fascinated by the Egyptian Mummies, and inspired by the superb exhibition of prints and drawings which changes several times a year. Allow plenty of time for your visit - the British Museum is a vast storehouse of treasures. Better still, why not visit several times, concentrating on just one exhibit each time?
In 1753 the Government of the day bought the collection of Sir Hans Sloan, a wealthy Doctor who practiced in Chelsea. The collection consisted of over 80,000 curios including fossils, plants, coins, medals and prints. This unlikely assortment formed the beginning of what has become certainly the biggest, and probably one of the best museum collections in the world. An act of Parliament established the British Museum as the world's first public museum. The Cottonian Library formed by the Harleys, Earls of Oxford, was immediately added to the collection. In 1757 George II presented The Royal Library to the museum. In 1823 George III conferred on the museum the right to a copy of every book printed. This right continues to the present day.
By this time, with the acquisition of enormous quantities of antiquities, artifacts, discoveries from all over the world and many bequests, it became apparent that more space to house the ever growing collection was essential. In 1823 Robert and Sydney Smith submitted their designs for the new purpose built British Museum. The work was carried out over the next thirty years and what emerged was one of London's most awe-inspiring buildings. Designed in the Greek revival style, this magnificent building has an Ionic colonnade and portico complete with pediment frieze. By the 1850's the site included The Great Court, in the middle of which was built the Round Reading Room, surmounted by one of the largest domes in the world. In spite of the expansion, space once again proved to be a problem and a new home was found for the Natural History Collection; this was transferred to South Kensington in the 1880's; and is now known as the Natural History Museum.
Another major change to the museum took place when it was decided to remove the British Library to new purpose built premises at St. Pancras. This enormous undertaking begun in the 1970's was not completed until 1998.9
Today, the British Museum is home to no less than six and a half million objects and has ninety four permanent and temporary exhibition galleries. An Education Department provides a wide range of services for adults and children. Other departments are Coins and Medals, Egyptian Antiquities, Ethnography, Greek and Roman Antiquities, Japanese Art, Medieval and Later Art, Oriental Antiquities, Pre-Historic and Romano-British Antiquities, Prints and Drawings, and Western Asiatic Antiquities.
The London Palace of The Duke of Wellington
Apsley House was designed by Robert Adam and built between 1771 and 1778. Here Wellington made his London home after a dazzling military career in India, Spain and Portugal, culminating in his victory at Waterloo in 1815. When he bought Apsley House in 1817 he was the most powerful commander in Europe and his huge popular support gave him enormous political influence. Wellington enlarged the house to express his status, adding on the 90-foot-long Waterloo Gallery, and enriched it with his collection, creating a setting fit for a Duke.