Sir John Soane's Museum, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London
Details
Accessibility
https://www.soane.org/visit/accessibility
"There is historic furniture throughout the Museum – please don’t sit on the chairs. Please ask our friendly staff if you need to sit down
- The Museum has some uneven flooring, with grilles in some places, through which you can see the floor below
- The walls are covered with objects, some of which are extremely fragile
- Some areas are dark and narrow
Please get in touch before your visit and we’ll do everything we can to make sure you have a positive experience.
If you need any further information on accessibility, please contact us on 020 7405 2107, or email admin@soane.org.uk.
Blind and partially-sighted visitors
If you’d like an audio tour of the museum, please book this in advance and we’ll make sure it’s ready for your arrival.
Ask us if you’d like to borrow large-print copies of exhibition labels and panels. We can also offer a large-print or braille version of our short guide to the museum.
We advise visiting during the day, because we use very little artificial light. We can sometimes offer torches or additional overhead lighting though, so please ask us.
Physically disabled visitors
Our resources are limited and as such, we require that visitors with requiring the lift call at least 24 hours ahead. To organise your visit, please call 020 7405 2107.
We now have an internal and an external platform lift for step-free access to the Museum. Please call ahead so that we have a member of staff on hand to operate the lift as, due to our Grade 1 listing, the lift cannot be in a public space.
If you use crutches or a walking stick, you should be able to go everywhere inside, but some spaces are too narrow for walking frames. If you would like to borrow one of our custom wheelchairs, please call ahead.
Inside, standard wheelchairs are usually too big for our narrow corridors and doorways; so visitors with wheelchairs larger than 41cm wide, 84cm deep and a height of 82cm, will be asked to transfer to our own specially manufactured narrow wheelchairs.
Deaf and hard of hearing visitors
We offer induction loops at the front desk and in our shop. We can also set up induction loops for seated lectures, talks and events – please let us know when you book.
Visitors with learning disabilities: The Museum has easy read information guides available. Please see Download our Easy Read guide | 1.34 MB "
Brief description
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_John_Soane's_Museum
" Sir John Soane's Museum is a house museum, located next to Lincoln's Inn Fields in Holborn, London, which was formerly the home of neo-classical architect John Soane. It holds many drawings and architectural models of Soane's projects and a large collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings, and antiquities that he acquired over many years. The museum was established during Soane's own lifetime by a private Act of Parliament in 1833, which took effect on his death in 1837. Soane engaged in this lengthy parliamentary campaign in order to disinherit his son, whom he disliked intensely. The act stipulated that on Soane's death, his house and collections would pass into the care of a board of trustees acting on behalf of the nation, and that they would be preserved as nearly as possible exactly in the state they were at his death. The museum's trustees remained completely independent, relying only on Soane's original endowment, until 1947. Since then, the museum has received an annual Grant-in-Aid from the British Government via the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Some of Soane's paintings include works by Canaletto, Hogarth, three works by his friend J. M. W. Turner, Thomas Lawrence, Antoine Watteau, Joshua Reynolds, Augustus Wall Callcott, Henry Fuseli, William Hamilton and 15 drawings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, many of which are framed and displayed in the museum. There are over 30,000 architectural drawings in the collection. Owing to the narrow passages in the house, all decked with Soane's extensive collections, only 90 visitors are allowed in the museum at any given time, and a formation of queue outside for entry is not unusual. Labels are few and lighting is discreet; there is no information desk or café. In the year ending March 2019, the museum received 131,459 visitors.[3]
See also the SEE Around Britain website for:
- Soane's country retreat Pitzhanger Manor, in Ealing
- The Dulwich Picture Gallery designed by Soane in 1811 is the archetype for modern art galleries from the Sainsbury Wing at London's National Gallery to the new Getty Center in California.
- With its eclectic collection idiosyncratically displayed in a domestic town house, the Soane museum shares many qualities with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
- Sir John Soane should not be confused with Sir Hans Sloane, whose collections formed the foundation of the British Museum, the British Library and Natural History Museum.
- James William Wild curator in the 1880s.
- Sir John Soane's mausoleum is located at the St. Pancras Old Church."
Address
13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3BP
Phone
020 7405 2107
Website
Directions
Opening Times
Always check with the venue directly for up-to-date information including opening times and admission charges as they may be subject to change
Transport
Amenities
Shop
Toilets
Travel Information
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NB London ULTRA-LOW EMISSION ZONE
This started on 8 April 2019 in the Central London Congestion Charge Zone, and will extend to the whole of the London area within the
M25 Motorway from 25 October 2021.
For more details please see:
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check-your-vehicle-35896
Vehicles registered with a 'disabled' or 'disabled passenger vehicles' tax class will benefit from a grace period after the ULEZ starts until 26 October 2025 as long as their vehicle doesn't change tax class, and this also applies to a 'disabled' vehicle registered outside the UK.