Dating from around 1250 onwards, the National Gallery includes works from the Italian Renaissance, the Spanish school, Flemish and Dutch paintings and many examples of the English tradition. Featuring the likes of Van Gogh’s famous ‘Sunflowers’, Botticelli’s ‘Venus and Mars’, Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘the Virgin on the Rocks’ and works from Cézanne, Constable, El Greco, Degas, Gainsborough Dürer, Michaelangelo, Manet, Murillo, Raphael, Rembrandt, Rossetti, Rubens, Titian, Velázquez to name just a few, the Gallery is considered one of London’s greatest, and a pinnacle in the history of Western European art.

Why should I go there?

If the idea of spending a day perusing one of the foremost collections of Western European paintings for free isn’t quite enough to persuade you, you might note the National Gallery is situated in a spectacular building in historic Trafalgar Square, named in honour of Admiral Lord Nelson's victory over the combined Spanish and French navy off Cape Trafalgar in 1805. The Gallery fills the north side of the square, with Nelson’s column at the square’s centre, flanked by huge stone lions. From here you can really appreciate William Wilkins' colonnaded neoclassic façade.

Where is the Gallery?

You can’t miss the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, but if in doubt look for the pigeons who normally collect there to look for food from gullible tourists. The nearest tube is Charing Cross

Homepage address

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk