I will be spending a week in London in January, which art galleries are the best to visit

00:00 Mon 24th Dec 2001 | Travel

Asks mimi

A. London has one of the biggest collections of art galleries in the world - so you're going to be spoilt for choice. Our recommendations include the following, we have listed them in alphabetical order:

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Barbican Art Gallery

Barbican Centre, Silk Street London EC2Y 8DS

Telephone: 020 7 638 8891

Website: www.barbican.org.uk

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Located on Level 3 in the Barbican Centre, the Barbican Art Gallery is a joy to visit as it has a huge space, that covers two floors, in which to exhibit modern art and design. Recent exhibitions have included works by designers Robin and Lucienne Day and the photographer Helmut Newton.

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Courtauld Institute of Art

Somerset House, Strand London WC2R 0RN

Telephone: 020 7 873 2526

Website: www.courtauld.ac.uk

Opening hours: 10am-6pm daily (closed 24-26 December)

Admission: �4. Free on Mondays (excluding bank holidays)

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The Courtauld Gallery is a favourite with Londoners and tourists alike because it houses a small collection of exquisite art. Some of its highlights include: Botticelli's The Trinity, Bellini's The Assassination of St Peter Martyr, Cranach's Adam and Eve, and the Rubens room.

Exhibitions running in January include Art on the Line (until 20 January 2002) and The Botti Madonna.

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Guildhall Art Gallery

Guildhall Yard, London EC2P 2EJ

Telephone: 020 7 332 3700

Website: www.guildhall-art-gallery.org.uk

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The Guildhall Art Gallery reopened in 1999 - after it burned down in May 1941, during WW2. The new Gallery displays about 250 works of art at a time, with a programme of temporary exhibitions exploring different themes and allowing many lesser-known pictures from the collection to come out of store.

Its collection now comprises 4,000 works of art ranging from portraits of kings and queens to depictions of important naval battles, from period views of historic London to the work of contemporary artists. Its highlights include: Millais' My First Sermon and My Second Sermon and Landseer's The First Leap.

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Hayward Gallery

South Bank Centre, Belvedere Road London SE1 8XZ

Telephone: 020 7 928 3144

Website: www.hayward-gallery.org.uk

Opening times:10am-6pm daily (closed over Christmas and New Year from 10 December 2001 - 16 January 2002.

Admission: �7.

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The Hayward Gallery is located on the south bank of the Thames and was opened in 1968. As one of the largest and most versatile temporary art exhibition spaces in Britain, it has proved remarkably adaptable for presenting a wide range of ground-breaking exhibitions over nearly thirty years. The programme provides a contemporary perspective on the art of our time and times past. It aims to bring an enquiring and critical edge to exhibitions, which span history, cultures, artistic disciplines and media. It concentrates on four main areas: single artists, historical themes and artistic movements, other cultures and contemporary.

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The National Gallery

Trafalgar Square London WC2N 5DN

Telephone: 020 7 747 2885

Website: www.nationalgallery.org.uk

Opening times: 10am-6pm daily (closed 24-26 December, 1 January)

Admission: free

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The National Gallery's permanent collection spans the period from about 1250 to 1900 and consists of Western European paintings.

The collection contains over 2,300 paintings by many of the world's most famous artists. The Sainsbury Wing includes work by Van Eyck, Piero della Francesca, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. The West Wing includes work by Titian, Cranach, Michelangelo, Holbein and Bronzio. The North Wing includes work by Rubens, Van Dyck, Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Vermeer. The East Wing includes work by Gainsborough, Constable, Monet, C�zanne and Van Gogh.

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National Portrait Gallery

St Martin's Place London WC2H 0HE

Telephone: 020 7 306 0055

Website: www.npg.org.uk

Opening hours: 10am-6pm (open until 9pm on Thursday and Friday evenings. Closed 24-26 December, 1 January and Good Friday).

Admission: free

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The National Portrait Gallery was founded in 1856 to collect the likenesses of famous British men and women. Today the collection is the most comprehensive of its kind in the world.

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Royal Academy of Arts

Burlington House, Piccadilly London W1V 0DS

Telephone: 020 7 300 8000

Website: www.royalacademy.org.uk

Opening hours: 10am-6pm daily (open until 10pm on Friday evenings).

Admission: Prices vary for each exhibition.

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The Royal Academy was founded in 1768 and is the oldest fine arts institution in Britain. Its Permanent Collection comprises examples of British art from the 18th century to the present day. The collection includes paintings and sculpture, plaster casts, artists' memorabilia, prints and drawings.

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Serpentine Gallery

Kensington Gardens London W2 3XA

Telephone: 020 7 402 6075

Website: www.serpentinegallery.org

Opening times: 10am-6pm

Admission: free

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The Serpentine Gallery, situated in the heart of Kensington Gardens in a 1934 tea pavilion, was founded in 1970 by the Arts Council of Great Britain. Today the Gallery attracts over 400,000 visitors a year and is one of London's most loved exhibition sites for modern and contemporary art.

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Tate Britain

Millbank London SW1P 4RG

Telephone: 020 7 887 8008

Website: www.tate.org.uk

Opening hours: 10am-6pm

Admission: free

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Tate Britain is the traditional Tate Gallery and is the national gallery for British art from 1500 to the present day - it contains great British work by Blake, Constable, Epstein, Gainsborough, Hatoum, Hirst, Hockney, Hodgkin, Hogarth, Moore, Rossetti, Sickert, Spencer, Stubbs and Turner.

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Tate Modern

Bankside London SE1 9TG

Telephone: 020 7 887 8000

Website: www.tate.org.uk

Opening hours: 10am-6pm

Admission: free

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Tate Modern opened last year, and is Britain's new museum of modern art, it houses international modern art from 1900 to the present day including works by Dali, Matisse, Picasso and Warhol. Present day art includes work by Gilbert & George, Dorothy Cross and Susan Hiller. The building that houses all the art used to be a power station and was transformed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron.

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Other important galleries include:

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British Library Exhibition Galleries

Website: www.bl.uk

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Crafts Council Gallery

Website: www.craftscouncil.org.uk

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Hoxton Hall

Website: www.hoxtonhall.dabsol.co.uk

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