Sir John Soane's Museum
the maddest house in london
An architect's labyrinthine home crammed floor to ceiling with antiquities, free in Holborn. One of London's strangest, best free hours.
Free to visit · Holborn · Holborn · WC2A 3BP
Opening: Wed–Sun 10am–5pm
Sir John Soane was a great architect and an obsessive collector, and he turned his own Holborn house into a museum then left it to the nation on the condition that nothing be changed. The result is the strangest and most wonderful free hour in London, and almost nobody who has not been believes how good it is.
Every wall, ceiling and hidden recess is crammed with antiquities, casts, paintings and fragments, arranged exactly as Soane left them two centuries ago. There are walls that swing open to reveal more paintings behind, a pharaoh's sarcophagus in the basement, mirrors and skylights bending the light everywhere. It is part museum, part puzzle box.
It is free, it is small, and it is gloriously uncommercial. No big gift shop, no fuss, just one man's brilliant cluttered imagination kept exactly as it was. Go in knowing nothing and let it unfold around you.
Getting there: On the north side of Lincoln's Inn Fields, a few minutes from Holborn station.
Best time to go: First thing on a weekday, or one of their candlelit evening openings. It is small, so it fills up fast.
Insider tip: Time your visit for one of their candlelit evening openings if you can. The whole house is lit by candles exactly as Soane intended, and it is one of the most atmospheric things you can do in London after dark.
Official site: https://www.soane.org
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