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This section of our London,
England
City Guide describes the best places to visit in Bloomsbury, which is
gaining a reputation as one of the leading places to be in London.
- Click the links to go directly to a
specific place or just read the page below to explore this section of
London.
Bloomsbury is known as the
home of British Museum, the British Library and the University of London.
Historically, Britain's writers and intellectuals have favored this area. It is a pleasant
section of London and has much to offer, but
tourists mainly flock to the British Museum and, to a lesser extent, the British
Library, leaving the rest of Bloomsbury to its residents Of course,
you may have read of some of its residents, well - fictional ones that
is, as the Darling residence in Bloomsbury was visited by Barrie's Peter Pan
and Tinker Bell.
We
provide brief descriptions of the leading attractions in Bloomsbury and link these to
detailed maps of London showing the areas described. The blue numbered locations symbolized on
the maps are linked back to the descriptions of the attractions so you can
click them and return to the feature's description on this page.
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| If you still feel the need for more
antiquities after visiting the British Museum, you may want to
take time to tour Sir John Soane's Museum in Holborn. It
is an interesting collection and the price is right (free). See
this official
site for more info. |
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Bloomsbury
map symbol 20
 Goodge
Street, Russell Square, Tottenham Court Road, Holborn
The British Museum is one
of the world’s great museums. The
venue is so large and complex that to tour it to advantage, you need to take a guided tour,
rent an electronic guide, or purchase a print guide. If you
really like museums, you could spend days here, as the museum has an
incredible breadth of worthy exhibits.
If
you are not a museum aficionado or are short on time, be sure the see the
Museum's most famous exhibits: the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles from the
Parthenon in Athens, and a fine collection of artifacts from ancient
Egypt
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including its noted mummy collection. If you have a little more time, visit
the exhibits on the Roman Civilization and prehistoric/ Roman Britain
The British Museum contains Europe’s
largest covered public square, the
Great Court. Opened in 2000, the
Great Court
is the new focal point of the British Museum. It has become the
cultural meeting place of the Museum and its architecture is worthy of admiration.
The Reading Room (formerly the British Library) has been restored and is
stunning. This is the same Reading Room where Carl Marx spent time reading
about capitalism.
The British Museum is
another
of London’s "must see" attractions. You can find out details on hours of
service and current
exhibitions at
www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk.
map
symbol 29
Kings Cross St. Pancras, Euston, Euston Square
Libraries generally do not
make for good tourism, but the British Library at St. Pancras is the
exception to the rule. The John Ritblat Gallery, housing “The Treasures of
the British Library” is an extraordinary find. In it, you will be able to
view the Magna Carta, a Gutenberg Bible, Mercator’s Atlas, the Lindisfarne
Gospels, Shakespeare’s First Folio, original music, as written by Mozart,
Handel and the Beatles, among other treasures of the written word.
A special area called “Turning the Pages” provides
a number of interactive
computers with displays that allow you to “thumb through” digital copies on many
of the original works on display in the Ritblat Gallery.
For the stamp collectors in the crowd,
the Library houses what is considered by many to be the best display of stamps in
the world, in the Entrance Hall in the upper Ground Floor. The British
Library houses the National Philatelic Collections of the United Kingdom.
Information on the
Library’s location and details on visiting can be found at
the British Library's web site.
Additional details on the Ritblat Gallery can be found
here.
If you need information about another travel destination, try Googling our site or the Web
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Click the button above to link to Transport for
London's Journey Planner. Fill in the form for the best transportation schedule to your destinations in London.
When finished, close the window to return to ThereArePlaces |
Best Places to Visit in the United Kingdom
| St. Pancras Station
in Bloomsbury is the new terminus
for Eurostar service, replacing Waterloo Station. Due to new high-speed rail lines in the southeast of England, the Eurostar now reaches Paris in 2 hours and 15 minutes and
Brussels in 1 hour and 50 minutes.
St. Pancras, and end-destination by itself, is a glorious
building. You can see its ornate architecture in the picture accompanying
our article on the British Library. |
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