London’s big and famous museums — the British Museum, the V&A, always packed with tourists — are world-class, and everyone knows it. But there’s an altogether different world of museums and galleries in the city, one that often goes under the radar.
The little, quirky museums tucked away into houses and attics, or stellar collections that go unnoticed, are run by passionate individuals. These are places where curiosity and historic interest trump acreage and celebrity. Here the real thrill is finding things you never knew you were interested in. Among the treasures here are ancient textiles from Egypt; a museum devoted to the Swedenborgian ideas of thought and vibration, exactly as strange as it sounds; an urn with skeletal human remains. Strange, lovely, or just plain weird, they make for a more idiosyncratic and interesting experience than the well-trodden paths to the big collections.
