A Tour of London Museums Trivia Quiz

Answer: Trafalgar Square

Founded in 1824 to house 38 paintings bought by the British government, the National Gallery has been located in Trafalgar Square since 1838. Initially, the gallery's collection consisted mainly of works by Renaissance painters, then gradually expanded to include paintings created no later than 1900. At the time of writing, over 2,300 paintings - the oldest dating from the mid-13th century - are housed in the National Gallery. Though some significant British works are part of the museum's collection, most major British paintings from 1500 to 1900 are housed in the Tate Gallery (located on Millbank, west of the Houses of Parliament), established in 1997 for that purpose.

The current building was designed by William Wilkins, an architect and classical scholar who also designed University College London, in the Neoclassical style that was fashionable at the time. Additions and alterations were made to the main building from the 1860 to the late 20th century - when the postmodernist Sainsbury Wing (opened in 1991) was added to house the gallery's Renaissance collection.

Visited by millions of people every year (over 2.7 million in 2022), the National Gallery is home to works by the greatest painters in the history of Western art. Among the best-known paintings in its collection there are Leonardo da Vinci's "Virgin of the Rocks", Jan van Eyck's "The Arnolfini Portrait", J.M.W. Turner's "The Fighting Temeraire", John Constable's "The Hay Wain", and Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers".

Answer: Venus of Milo

Located in the historic Bloomsbury district of central London, the British Museum houses a staggering collection of eight million objects covering every field of knowledge from the beginnings of human culture to the present day. Established in 1753, and first opened to the public in 1759, the museum was originally based on the collections bequeathed to the British nation by Anglo-Irish scientist Sir Hans Sloane. Much of the museum's subsequent expansion was a consequence of Britain's colonial empire: in fact, the acquisition of some of its most famous artifacts (such as the Parthenon sculptures, or Elgin Marbles, the Egyptian Rosetta Stone, and the West African Benin Bronzes) has become a thorny issue with some people.

The main museum building, with its Greek Revival façade, was designed by Sir Robert Smirke; Montagu House, the museum's first home, was demolished to make way for the new building. Construction began in 1828, and lasted for most of the following three decades; the iconic Round Reading Room, in the centre of the Great Court, was added in the 1850s. The exponential growth of the museum's collections led to the addition of new wings, as well as the removal of the natural history collections to a new museum in the late 1880s. The renovated, covered Great Court was inaugurated in 2000, after the departure of the British Library to its present site at St Pancras.

In 2022, the British Museum was visited by over 4 million people - the third most-visited art museum in the world. Its galleries contain artifacts from every part of the world, from the famed Egyptian and Greek collections to magnificent totem poles from the Pacific Northwest. The Standard of Ur, an Sumerian wooden box decorated with inlaid mosaics representing scenes of war and peace, is estimated to be around 4,600 years old. The Venus of Milo, however, can be admired at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

Answer: Museum of London

The Museum of London was created in 1976 by combining the collections held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall Museum and those of the London Museum. Previously located on London Wall, a street in the City of London named after a section of the ancient city wall discovered there, the museum is primarily dedicated to the social history of the city from its prehistoric beginnings to the present day. With over six million objects, the Museum of London's collection of artifacts and documents relating to urban history is the largest in the world.

The building that housed the museum from 1976 to 2022 was designed by architects Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya with an innovative layout in which the galleries were arranged in chronological order around the main courtyard, and there was only one possible route through them. The museum was part of the large Barbican Estate, built in an area in the north of the City of London severely damaged in the Blitz. In 2015, it was announced that the museum would move to a new location in West Smithfield, on the western edge of the City, where it would occupy various disused buildings of Smithfield Market. The museum closed in December 2022, and the opening of the new site is scheduled for 2026.

Besides its main location, the Museum of London also includes Museum of London Docklands, located at Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs, which is dedicated to the history of the port of London since Roman times. The three museums listed as wrong answers are also found in London.

The photo depicts the Lord Mayor's State Coach, which is kept at the museum when not in use.

Answer: Applied and decorative arts

Located on Cromwell Road, in the district of South Kensington in southwest London, the Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated as V&A) is a massive building covering 5.1 hectares (51,000 m²/12.5 acres). Its 145 galleries house a collection of over two million objects spanning 5,000 years of applied and decorative arts from most of the world's cultures. Among the artifacts found in the museum there are a noteworthy collection of Italian Renaissance items, stunning examples of East Asian pottery and metalwork, and one of the largest collections of Islamic art in the West. The museum originated from the Great Exhibition of 1851, and was housed in two different locations (Marlborough House and Somerset House) before the first buildings of the current complex were completed in 1857.

The current museum building includes parts built during the Victorian era, many of them elaborately decorated by well-known artists such as William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. Other parts, such as the main façade, were added in the early 20th century, after WWII, and in more recent years. The royal couple to which the museum is dedicated are depicted by statues above the main entrance. A garden, redesigned in the 2000s, lies at the centre of the main building.

One of the British national museums, the V&A often hosts specialized themed exhibitions in dedicated galleries. The Education department is also involved in providing a wide range of facilities for school groups, university students and researchers, as well as information for casual visitors. In 2022, the V&A was the world's 14th most visited art museum (the 6th in Greater London), welcoming over 2.3 million people.

Answer: London Transport

The London Transport Museum's main site is located in a building that originally hosted Covent Garden's flower market, designed by William Rogers in 1871. Opened in 1980, the museum lies on the east side of the Covent Garden Piazza. Before that, it was located at Clapham (as part of the British Transport Museum), and then at Syon Park, in west London.

Among the artifacts on display at the Covent Garden site, there are various examples of buses, trams and trolleybuses, as well as the first steam-powered underground engine. Interactive displays trace the development of London's world-renowned public transport system. One of the museum's biggest draws is an elaborately decorated, horse-drawn omnibus from 1805. The London Transport Museum also offers activities geared to younger visitors, and is thus quite popular with families.

The Museum Depot, located in Acton (west London), houses the parts of the collection that are not on display at Covent Garden - including those objects (such as underground trains) that are too large for the main museum site. Though the Depot is not open regularly to visitors like the Covent Garden site, visits can be booked in advance. In 2015, the museum also launched a programme of guided tours of disused underground stations named "Hidden London".

Of the three institutions listed as wrong answers, the Bank of England does have a museum that can be visited on weekdays. The BBC and the NHS do not have dedicated museums, though the BBC often organizes exhibitions in collaboration with museums throughout the UK.

Answer: Impressionism

The Courtauld Gallery has been located in Somerset House, a large complex and former royal palace located on the Strand, since 1989. The present building, designed in the Neoclassical style by Sir William Chambers, was erected between 1776 and the mid-19th century; it now houses various government offices, as well as organizations dedicated to the arts and education.

Founded in 1932, the Courtauld Institute of Art, to which the Gallery belongs, is a college of the University of London specializing in history of art. The museum's collection is based on the collection of industrialist Samuel Courtauld, the institution's founder, and expanded during the 20th century through high-profile donations and bequests. Though the collection also comprises a number of works by Old Masters (in particular from the Italian school), much of its fame rests with its Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, most of which were part of Courtauld's original bequest.

The Courtauld Gallery's centrepiece is "A Bar at the Folies-Bergère" (in the photo), Édouard Manet's last major work (1882). The painting depicts the bar of a popular Paris nightclub: most of the scene is reflected in a mirror strategically placed behind the central figure of the barmaid. Other well-known paintings in the collection are Vincent van Gogh's "Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear" (1889), Paul Cézanne's "Mont Sainte-Victoire with Large Pine" (c. 1887), and Pierre-Auguste Renoir's "La Loge" (!874).

Answer: Dinosaur bones

Located on Cromwell Road, next to the Victoria and Albert Museum (the two buildings being separated by Exhibition Road), the Museum of Natural History is definitely one of the world's most idiosyncratic museum buildings. Originally part of the British Museum, it became independent in 1963, though it continued to be referred to as British Museum (Natural History) until 1992. The museum houses over 80 million items divided into five main collections: zoology, entomology, botany, geology, and palaeontology. The latter section includes one of the world's most notable collections of dinosaur fossils - such as the almost complete mounted skeleton of a Stegosaurus, nicknamed Sophie.

The Natural History Museum was opened in 1881, when the building designed by Alfred Waterhouse was completed. Inspired by the Romanesque cathedrals the architect had seen during his frequent trips to continental Europe, the building - often referred to as a "cathedral of nature" - boasts an ornate terracotta façade, with two square towers flanking the main entrance. In the magnificent Central Hall (now Hintze Hall), a plaster cast of a Diplodocus ("Dippy") was once displayed; now the 25-m (83-ft) skeleton of a young blue whale ("Hope") is suspended from the hall's high ceiling. In 2022, the Natural History Museum was the most-visited attraction in Greater London - with over 4.6 million visitors - and the second most-visited in the UK.

The three groups of items listed as wrong answers would be found in the Science Museum, which is located in Exhibition Road, just behind the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Answer: Power station

The Tate institution - founded in 1897, and named after sugar magnate Henry Tate in 1932 - comprises four galleries, two of which (Tate Britain and Tate Modern) are in London, and the other two in Liverpool and St Ives (Cornwall). The original Tate Gallery, located by the Thames in the Pimlico neighbourhood of central London, is now known as Tate Britain. As throughout the 20th century the latter's collection had considerably expanded, it was inevitable to separate the gallery's collection of British art (which is still housed at Tate Britain) from that of modern and contemporary art, which found a home in Tate Modern.

The building in which Tate Modern has been housed since 2000 is the former Bankside Power Station, in the Royal Borough of Southwark - next door to the Globe Theatre. The power station, which was active until 1981, was designed in 1947 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, also responsible for the exterior of Battersea Power Station (known to rock fans for appearing on the cover of Pink Floyd's "Animals"). With its towering central chimney, the building is connected with St Paul's Cathedral across the Thames by the Millennium Bridge. As the photo shows, the central Turbine Hall represents the full height of five storeys of the original building; due to its size, it is used to display particularly large, specially commissioned works of art.

Tate Modern's collection includes works by modern and contemporary artists - both British and international - from 1900 until the present day. In 2022, the museum was visited by over 3.8 million people, making it the third most-visited attraction in London, and the fourth in the world.

Answer: Greenwich

First mentioned in the 10th century, Greenwich lies on the south bank of the Thames. It is known for its rich maritime heritage, and its association with Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). In 1997, the Georgian and Victorian town centre, the buildings on the riverfront (including the Royal Naval College, designed by Christopher Wren), and the extensive Greenwich Park were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the name of Maritime Greenwich.

Established in 1934 thanks to generous donations by shipowner Sir James Caird, the National Maritime Museum is one of the four Royal Museums Greenwich, also part of the World Heritage Site. Due to its historic association with the sea and navigation, Greenwich was the ideal place for this museum, whose collection of over two million objects spans the history of Britain at sea throughout the centuries. Among those objects there are paintings of ships and naval battles, portraits of British explorers and naval heroes (including James Cook and Horatio Nelson), ship models, maps, flags, and navigational instruments.

The other three museums that make up the Royal Museums Greenwich network are the 17th-century Queen's House (designed by Inigo Jones), the Royal Observatory (built in 1675), where visitors can straddle the Prime Meridian, and the Cutty Sark, one of the last (and fastest) tea clippers built in the 19th century, before the advent of steam.

Answer: Hampton Court Palace

Located about 19 km (12 mi) southwest of central London, in the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames, Hampton Court Palace is strongly associated with the Tudor era - especially with Henry VIII - though most of the buildings in the palace complex date from the late 17th century. The magnificent palace was built for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, chancellor of Henry VIII, between 1514 and 1521. In 1529, when he had already fallen out of favour with the king, Wolsey gave Henry the palace as a gift, and died shortly afterwards.

Henry VIII greatly expanded the palace to accommodate his large retinue of courtiers, adding - among other things - the Great Hall with its superb hammerbeam roof. Much of the original Tudor palace, however, was demolished to make way for a Baroque palace - inspired by France's Versailles - designed by Christopher Wren for William III and Mary II. The last monarch who resided in Hampton Court Palace was George II; the palace was opened to the public in 1838 by Queen Victoria, and since then has been one of the UK's major attractions. It can be reached from London by train or river boat.

Apart from the palace and its contents (which include a remarkable art collection), Hampton Court offers visitors a wealth of popular attractions, such as its landscaped gardens, the Royal Tennis Court, the famous Maze, and the world's largest vine.