★★★★★ 5.0
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The National Gallery
£57,000 bought just 38 paintings to start this treasure palace in 1824! You're standing where royal horses once lived in the old Royal Mews, but William Wilkins built this Neoclassical art temple here in 1838. Those massive columns you see guard 2,300 masterpieces spanning 650 years - that's 32 times your entire life! Inside await da Vinci's secrets and Van Gogh's sunflowers, welcoming two million treasure hunters yearly, and the best part? It's completely FREE to enter this artistic wonderland in Trafalgar Square!
Did You Know?
- The National Gallery was founded in 1824 when the British government purchased just 38 paintings from the estate of banker John Julius Angerstein, and it originally opened in his modest townhouse on Pall Mall—a far cry from its grand, purpose-built Neoclassical home on Trafalgar Square, which opened in 1838 to make the collection accessible to people from all walks of life, symbolizing a commitment to public, cross-class education and enjoyment.
- One of the Gallery's most famous architectural features is the Sainsbury Wing, added in 1991 and designed by postmodern architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. This wing houses the early Renaissance collection and is celebrated for its harmonious blend of contemporary design with the historic Wilkins building, featuring innovative use of light and space to showcase delicate masterpieces.
- The National Gallery's central London location was deliberately chosen to be between the wealthy West End and the less affluent East End, reinforcing its mission as a truly public institution. This ideal was so strong that even when the building was criticized for being too small or polluted, the argument for accessibility won out over proposals to move the collection to a 'more suitable' suburban location.