5 Unusual Museums in London You Must Visit

London has its share of elaborate world-class museums. If you are an art lover, for example, you have an abundance of galleries to spend the day in to contemplate various masterpieces. However, if you are looking for unusual collections of items, look no further than this sampling to get you started on an alternative history tour of the city.

Pollock’s Toy Museum

If you are visiting London with your children, Pollock’s Toy Museum is certain to be a top attraction for you and your family. Practically any toy that has been on the market for children worldwide has a place at this site. The collections are a fascinating look at the ways kids played in the past. Come to experience a world of porcelain dolls, teddy bears, tinkertoys, board games and more. Elaborate dollhouses and toy theaters also are on display for the littlest ones in your party to explore.

Pollock’s Toy Museum, London, UK by R Sones

Freud Museum

This site was the home of Sigmund Freud after he and his family fled Austria and the Nazis in the late 1930s. Here is where you can see perhaps the world’s most famous analyst couch with its pillows and tapestries. You also can see the desk where Freud spent much time writing his papers. The family’s extensive collection of antiquities also is on display, and the ground’s gardens are worth checking out, too. The house and its furnishings are frozen in Freud’s time.

Whitechapel Bell Foundry

Lots of British and global manufacturing history can be found here, as the site exists as Britain’s oldest continuing manufacturer. Here, you can find church bells, handbells, clock tower bells (think Big Ben) and other varieties made to order. The company’s rich history extends across the pond, as the U.S. Liberty Bell was cast at the site more than 250 years ago.

Churchill War Rooms

Part of the collection that makes up Britain’s Imperial War Museum, this is the wartime bunker where British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his government officials took shelter during the London Blitz. You can see where wartime decisions were made and purchase a Churchill coffee mug in the same visit. The Map Room holds maps where you can see tiny pinholes that charted Allied progress. Next to that room is Churchill’s Room, still in existence from its time as his office/bedroom space.

The Black Museum

Better known as the crime museum, this infamous site offers a collection from London’s macabre side. In 1869, a new law allowed law enforcement to start keeping artifacts from criminals for educational purposes. Today, the museum holds weapons disguised as ordinary items, vials of poison, forensic photos and other criminal evidentiary items. The museum, while not open to the public, is open for law-enforcement training and crime lectures for legal authorities. If you are a law-enforcement official, you may be able to gain entry for a tour.

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Tags: alternative history, art lover, bell foundry, british prime minister, church bells, clock tower, dollhouses, freud museum, history tour, imperial war museum, museum london, porcelain dolls, sigmund freud, toy museum, visiting london, war rooms, winston churchill, world class museums

Category: Museums and Galleries, Museums and Galleries