John Soane Museum
Sunday, August 24th, 2008
Sir John Sloane Museum is a great place to visit. The museum is based in Sir John’s house in Lincoln Inn’s Fields in central London and it is free to get in however they only allow few people at a time so be prepared to wait.
Sir John Sloane was a Neo-Classical English architect whose some of the most famous buildings include The Bank of England and The Dulwich Picture Gallery. He loved clean lines that characterize the antiquity and smart use of light, paid an extreme attention to detail and admired simple forms.
His house has been turned into museum of architecture after his death in 1837. All the rooms are in their original form and the whole place is peppered with artifacts like clocks, ancient vases and furniture.
The museum houses lots of his architectural drawings, many of them portrait Sir John’s ideal London including the Royal Palace. It also displays William Hogarth’s Rake’s Progress, three major works of Canaletto and Seti I’s sarcophagus.
My favorite bit of the house is the room of architect’s imaginary friend. The room is in the basement, has a couple of chairs and a table with a human scull, the walls are full of paintings and sculptures and one of the hidden basement rooms has got a human skeleton – rather spooky.
Moving through the back part of the museum is like going through a doll house, the place is absolutely packed with items, sculpture and pictures, even the most narrow corridors are richly ornamented.
This place requires few visits as it is quite overwhelming.
