Top ten museums/galleries*

World
1. The Hermitage, St. Petersberg
2. The British Museum, London
3. The Prado, Madrid
4. The Louve, Paris
5. The Uffizi, Florence
6. Musee d’Orsay, Paris
7. V&A, London
8. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
9. Guggenheim, Bilbao
10. Tate Britain, London

UK
1. British Museum, London
2. Natural History Museum, London
3. Ashmolean, Oxford
4. National Gallery, London
5. Tate Britain, London
6. V&A, London
7. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
8. National Media Museum, Bradford
9. Bristol Art Gallery and Museum
10. Isles of Scilly Museum, St Mary's, Scilly Isles

London
1. Horniman Museum, Forest Hill
2. Sir John Soane’s Museum, Holborn
3. Geffrye Museum, Hackney
4. Grant Museum of Zoology, Euston
5. Serpentine Art Gallery, Kensington
6. Saatchi Art Gallery, Chelsea
7. Cinema museum, Kennington
8. Whitechapel Art Gallery, Whitechapel
9. Dulwich Art Gallery, Greenwich
10. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, Euston

I love galleries and musuems (and possibly their shops even more!) but sometimes the big, blockbuster ones can be overwhelming. We spent an entire day, 9-5, in the Hermitage in St Petersberg, and though the experience was amazing, we emerged dazed and knackered, not remembering anything we’d seen or read. It can become a bit of a ticking exercise: Leonardo? Check. Matisse? Check. We watched the Asian tourists do just this, taking photos of every exhibit and painting without even looking at them. The smaller museums and galleries can be more interesting, specialised, intimate, unique, memorable... and less crowded.

*That I’ve been to.

Previously on Barnflakes
A guide to photography for tourists
Top 3 new (and free) art galleries
Banksy vs Bristol Museum
H for Horrific