London

Around the world, a wealth of new museums are also bringing art and culture, science and technology, and education and storytelling to the forefront.

Ten Must-See Museums Opening Around the World in 2025

New institutions dedicated to artificial intelligence, West African art, barbeque and more are expected to welcome visitors this year

The Charles Dickens Museum is celebrating its anniversary by displaying rare books, artworks, letters, artifacts and other unique historical objects connected to the 19th-century author.

See Charles Dickens' Rare Manuscripts, Teenage Love Letters and a Copy of 'David Copperfield' That Traveled to Antarctica

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the Charles Dickens Museum in London is staging an exhibition of historic objects that shed light on the writer’s life and legacy

By age 16, “being on some occasion made ashamed of my ignorance in figures, which I had twice failed in learning when at school,” Benjamin Franklin wrote, “I took Cocker’s book of arithmetic and went through the whole by myself with great ease.”

After Failing Math Twice, a Young Benjamin Franklin Turned to This Popular 17th-Century Textbook

A 19th-century scholar claimed that "Cocker's Arithmetick" had "probably made as much stir and noise in the English world as any [book]—next to the Bible"

A mantel clock designed by André-Charles Boulle with a movement by Claude Martinot (circa 1726)

See These Ornately Decorated 18th-Century Clocks Before Time Runs Out

An exhibition in London is highlighting a collection of Baroque timepieces designed by the renowned Parisian craftsman André-Charles Boulle

Studies of Male Heads, Helmets for Soldiers and Facial Features, Michelangelo, circa 1504

See How Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael Entered and Exited Each Other's Worlds

A new exhibition in London examines the relationship between the three Italian Renaissance artists, who came together in Florence in 1504

St. John the Baptist and St. Jerome in a detail from The Madonna and Child With Saints

This Peculiar Painting From the Experimental Mannerist Movement Is Back on Display After a Stunning Ten-Year Restoration

Parmigianino painted St. Jerome asleep on the ground in his 16th-century altarpiece—a choice that's still puzzling experts five centuries later

An illustration of the Westminster semaphore from the January 16, 1869, issue of the Illustrated Times

Chaotic Traffic From Horse-Drawn Carriages Inspired the World's First Traffic Lights

Initial reactions to the signal, installed in London on this day in 1868, were mixed. Then, a freak accident scrapped the project entirely after just a month

A worker sews a costume at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in 2021 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

A Woman Appeared on the English Stage for the First Time on This Day in 1660, Transforming the World of Theater Forever

Despite this historic first, the identity of the first professional English actress on stage remains a theatrical mystery

A policeman uses flares to guide traffic during the Great Smog of 1952.

How an Extreme Combination of Fog and Air Pollution Brought London to a Standstill and Resulted in Thousands of Fatalities

On this day in 1952, buses stood still, cars were abandoned in the street, and residents couldn't see even a few feet in front of themselves as the lethal Great Smog descended on the city

View of the Crystal Palace circa 1854, after the building was relocated to Sydenham in South London

When London's Iconic Crystal Palace Burned to the Ground in a Devastating Fire

Three years before World War II, on this day in 1936, an inferno marked the symbolic end of the global hegemony of the British Empire

Elliot Heffernan (left) and Saoirse Ronan (right) portray a mother and son in Steve McQueen's new film, Blitz.

The Real Story Behind Apple TV+'s 'Blitz,' a New Steve McQueen Movie About Britain's Everyday World War II Heroes

Starring Saoirse Ronan as a young mother, the film celebrates Londoners' resilience in the face of an eight-month Nazi aerial bombing campaign

Sigmund Freud in the office of his Vienna home in 1930

New Exhibition Unravels Sigmund Freud's Complex Relationship With the Women in His Life and Work

"Women & Freud: Patients, Pioneers, Artists" spotlights the women who influenced the Austrian neurologist—and the field of psychoanalysis more broadly

Still Life Under the Lamp, Pablo Picasso, 1962

See Picasso's Lesser-Known Print Works, Which He Continued Experimenting With Into His 80s

A new exhibition spotlights the Spanish artist's printmaking talents, which he began honing in his 20s. In the decades that followed, he produced thousands of breathtaking creations

Winston Churchill loved Claude Monet's paintings, which he looked to as inspiration for his own art.

A Monet Masterpiece That Hung in Churchill's Home Is Now Free of Grime From Cigar Smoke

The newly restored "Charing Cross Bridge," which once hung in the politician's drawing room, is now on display at London's Courtauld Gallery

Three activists threw soup on two more van Gogh paintings hours after Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland were sentenced to prison time.

Hours After the Protesters Who Threw Soup at a van Gogh Were Sentenced, Three More Activists Repeated the Stunt

Two members of Just Stop Oil staged the original demonstration in late 2022. Group members say the harsh penalties will not deter their efforts

The black "marble" tombstone is made of limestone that likely came from Belgium.

America's Oldest Surviving Tombstone Probably Came From Belgium

Researchers analyzed tiny fossils embedded in the limestone to determine the age and origins of the grave maker, which marked the final resting place of a prominent Jamestown colonist

In the late 19th century, bereaved and yard-less pet owners began showing up at Hyde Park in London, imploring the groundskeeper to allow them to lay their dog or cat to rest there.

Why the World's First Pet Cemetery Was Revolutionary

A new book charts the history of pet cemeteries and honors the universal experience of grieving an animal companion

Visitors touring the Galeón Andalucía in the town of Ramsgate, England, earlier this year

You Can Climb Aboard a Massive Reproduction of a 17th-Century Spanish Galleon That's Sailing Around the World

The Galeón Andalucía, which is now making its way to London, was designed to resemble the armed merchant vessels manufactured by Spain and Portugal between the 16th and 18th centuries

Starry Night over the Rhône, Vincent van Gogh, 1888

Van Gogh Painted Some of His Most Breathtaking Works During His Two Years in the South of France

A blockbuster exhibition in London examines the Dutch Post-Impressionist's creative output between 1888 and 1890, which was one of the most productive periods of his career

Lindor Mehmetaj, the manager of London's Grove Gallery, with Banksy's Girl With Balloon

See Footage of a Thief Breaking Into a London Gallery and Stealing Banksy's Iconic 'Girl With Balloon'

Officials launched an investigation and recovered the $360,000 print less than a week after it vanished from Grove Gallery. Two men have been charged for the crime

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