The National Gallery

The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square at the City of Westminster, in London. The gallery is an institution established for charitable purposes. It has a collection of more than 2300 paintings dating from the middle 13^th century to 1900 AD.

National Gallery – paintings

The National Gallery foundation was laid when British government bought 38 paintings from the heirs of John Julius Angerstein in 1824. The shape of this institution was largely influenced by its early directors, such as Sir Charles Lock Eastlake and various private donors by whom 75 % of the collection is comprised. The number of paintings is smaller in comparison to the other European national galleries, the paintings inside are encyclopaedic  order.

National Gallery – tourists attractions

The National Gallery possesses invaluable works of art, such as Paul Cézanne’s “Bathers”; Claude Monet’s “Bathers at La Grenouillére”; Rembrandt’s “Self Portrait at the Age of 34”; Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”; Michelangelo’s “The Entombment” or Raphael’s “The Madonna of the Pinks” and even Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Virgin of the Rocks” from the S. Francesco Altarpiece in Milan. The National Gallery provides several tours to pick. “Art Detectives” is an audio tour, which allows both adults and children to follow two art detectives (Vasari and Shapiro) and search for clues to uncovering the meaning of some of the National Gallery mysterious paintings. At the end of this tour visitors can draw a single picture of the intriguing figures they have seen. Another exciting project is the one where participants can join journalist Tania Fawningly-Grovel and press photographer Jimmy Snoop in their exploration of kings and queens gallery. In this audio tour visitors can listen about many curiosities such as the Queen, who ruled for only nine days or the emperor executed by firing squad.

Something for whole family

Tour, which is definitely worthwhile, visiting the gallery with children is the “Teach your grown-ups about art”, where children can listen  to a lot of amazing secrets, which they can later on reveal as “make-do” custodians. Afterwards, the whole family can be engaged into quizzes, games and other activities such as a chance for kids to create their own masterpiece and submit it to the mini masterpieces gallery.

The most interesting facts according to Connect-Click:

• Before the outbreak of World War II the paintings inside the National Gallery were evacuated to different locations in Wales, including the university colleges of Aberystwyth and Bangor or the Penrhyn Castle.
• Mary Richardson, who was a member of suffragette movement, protested against the Parliament unwillingness to act. To cut the long story short, she smuggled a meat cleaver into the Gallery and slashed Diego Velasquez’s “The Rokeby Venus”.

 

Address: Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN