New attractions in the culture capital
By Michael Leech
London has re-invented itself as the most ‘happening’ city in Europe. The
River Thames is alive with sleek new pleasure-boats serving smart new
piers; and the South Bank in particular has developed itself as a
welcoming focus for sightseers, the ‘millennium mile’.
The Dome in Greenwich and ‘London Eye’ observation wheel have become icons
recognised the world over; while cafés and brasseries spill outdoors on to
bright piazzas. The first new Underground line in 25 years, the £3.2
billion Jubilee, is fully operational.
Now it is the turn of the art and culture lover to be courted, with a wide
range of new and revitalised museums and galleries opening (from May
2000). More than £400 million has been invested in these cultural centres,
which are not confined to the capital, and admission to many is free.
It is not just new galleries. The first bridge to be built across the
Thames for a century – the Millennium Bridge – provides an artistic
pedestrian route from the old to the new. It links St. Paul’s Cathedral
with Tate Modern, the country’s most important new building for the arts
for decades (of which more later). On the north bank of the river, the
magnificent courtyard of Somerset House -- decorated with granite paving
and 55 dancing water-jets -- opens up to the public as a place for
meeting, entertainment and relaxation.
Opening in July, the courtyard, beside Waterloo Bridge, will host evening
concerts and theatrical events for up to 3,500 people, while a café and
restaurant are part of the River Terrace.
Also new at Somerset House are galleries in the South Building for the
Gilbert Collection of decorative arts. This cornucopia of gold, silver and
mosaic objects complements the Courtauld Institute's famed Impressionist
galleries. Later in the year the Somerset House line-up is enhanced
further with the opening of a London outpost for the State Hermitage
Museum of St. Petersburg. There are plans for a changing selection of
exhibits from this world-class Russian collection.
Just off the busy shopping thoroughfare of Oxford Street is the Wallace
Collection, home of famous works such as Madame de Pompadour by Fragonard
and The Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals, as well as French furniture and
armour – all assembled by five generations of one family. In June it is
marking its centenary by increasing gallery space by one-third and opening
a restaurant, while a central courtyard becomes a sculpture garden with a
floating glass roof as its centrepiece.
Back at the river, a cathedral-like power station designed in the 1940s by
Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (who has the red telephone box as another claim to
fame) has been transformed into a new gallery that will be an icon of 21st
century London. This is Tate Modern, home to the Tate’s collection of
international 20th century art including works by Picasso, Matisse,
Mondrian, Dali, Bacon and Warhol. Next door, and somewhat dwarfed by its
neighbour, is the reconstruction of William Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre,
housing a newly opened permanent exhibition about the playwright – “All
the World’s a Stage” – the world’s largest.
Busy Trafalgar Square is expected to be partly pedestrianised, cutting
much of the traffic and connecting the square, with its fountains,
Nelson’s Column and statues, to the National Gallery on its northern side.
Next door is the National Portrait Gallery -- sombre and old-style --
well, it felt that way until they built an extension and made airy new
rooms. The new development is a wing of light, space and elegance, opened
by Queen Elizabeth II (May 4). A roof-top restaurant and bar provides
views stretching across Trafalgar Square and Whitehall down to Big Ben,
while a balcony gallery provides a suspended setting for portraits of the
famous from every arena of British life, 1960-90.
It is worth taking the short train journey from Victoria Station to
Dulwich -- a real London village – and home to the seductive Dulwich
Picture Gallery. In this, the country’s oldest public gallery, Rembrandt
rubs shoulders with Rubens, Gainsborough and other Old Masters. The
collection was created for a royal gallery in Poland, but it never left
these shores. Newly restored, a bronze and glass cloister connects it to a
new gallery, education centre and café.
In November the most popular of all museums, the British Museum, opens a
whole new space: its hidden inner courtyard. The Great Court, as it is
called, is the space at the centre of the museum, formerly home to the
British Library, transformed into the largest covered square in Europe.
Add to these London’s other cultural projects, including: a new wing
(complete with three-dimensional IMAX cinema) at the Science Museum in
South Kensington; a gallery on the Nazi holocaust (June) at the Imperial
War Museum; and a glittering silver, jewellery and art medal exhibition,
“Treasures of the 20th Century” (May 25 – July 21) at the Goldsmith’s
Hall, home of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths.
The excitement is not confined to London. In north-west England, A few
minutes from central Manchester, a shimmering steel-clad building rises
above the still waters of Salford Quays. The Lowry houses the biggest
collection of its namesake, local artist L.S. Lowry’s paintings, but it is
much more. Add two state-of-the-art theatres – one has the largest stage
outside the capital – art galleries, shops, bars and a fun ‘exploratory’
called Artworks, and you have some idea of all on offer. A first-class
addition to the city that boasts the world’s most popular football club
and culture, shopping and nightlife that is among England’s best.
A detailed booklet, “The Best of New Britain”, is available free from
British Tourist Authority offices overseas.
