subject: London Sight-seeing: Attractions In The City Of Westminster [print this page] When many people think about visiting London the City of Westminster is the obvious choice for tourist destinations with Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and the Houses of Parliament to name but a few. However, the City of Westminster has much more to offer to visitors to the area than just the most well-known destinations. The City of Westminster is a central London Borough and its history and origins predate the Norman Conquest. Edward the Confessor built an abbey at Westminster in the mid-eleventh century. He also built palace to try and ensure that the seat of Government would be fixed there and would draw power and wealth out of the City of London. The City of Westminster and the City of London were actually completely separate until the sixteenth century when they grew so much that they became one. Today Westminster is well known for its political and royal connections however there are many attractions that, although still well-known, may get overshadowed by the fame and popularity of Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.
The Royal Academy of Arts is an institution that is renowned for its exhibitions and as the oldest fine arts institution in Britain. The Academy holds paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, J. M. W. Turner and John Constable. It was founded in 1768 by King George III with clear aims. These were to promote the arts in Britain and to gain professional standing for British art and architecture. A school of art (known as the Schools) were also set up to pass on skills and knowledge to future generations. The Academy can be found in Burlington House on Piccadilly in the Mayfair area. The Royal Academy is also notable for having the only Michelangelo sculpture in the country.
Madame Tussauds a waxwork museum that displays wax models of famous historical figures and celebrities. Though there are numerous Madame Tussauds around the world, the London waxwork museum was the first. Marie Tussaud was born in 1761 and learned the skill of wax modelling from her mothers employer Doctor Philippe Curtius. She created models of famous figures including Benjamin Franklin and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and was forced to prove her allegiance to the nobles during the French Revolution by making death masks of the gentry who had been sent to the guillotine. When Dr Curtius died in 1794 she inherited his collection of wax models and took them on tour throughout Europe for a number of years. She came to England in 1802 but after touring for some time was unable to return to France as a result of the Franco-British war. She set up a permanent base in London and opened a museum in 1835. Though the original premise of the museum was in Baker Street it was later moved in 1883 to a larger space in its current location on Marylebone Road.
Though youll find a waxwork of Robert Downey Juniors Sherlock Holmes in Madam Tussauds, fans of the books should make a stop at the Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street in Marylebone. The privately run museum was opened in 1990 and though is actually located between numbers 237 and 241, was given permission to bear the number 221B by the City of Westminster. The museum offers Sherlock Holmes memorabilia, a recreation of the consulting detectives famous study and covers the period that Holmes inhabited 221B (1881 to 1904). The museum was the centre of some controversy as a result of its fifteen long year dispute with the Abbey National Building Society offices down the road. The Abbey National building was actually number 221 it received all the mail addressed to Holmes and Watson sent by fans and employed someone specifically to reply to it. The Sherlock Holmes Museum felt that it was the most appropriate organisation to deal with the mail and issued several appeals. The dispute was only resolved in 2005 when Abbey National moved from the building.
Though Westminster is probably best known for its palaces and political buildings there are a number of attractions that should not be overlooked as a result. If you are planning on visiting London make sure to research the area so that you dont miss out on something that interests you.
