Today we had the opportunity to learn more about British history. The National Portrait Gallery was established in 1856 by Parliment in temporary quarters with a portrait of Shakespeare as the first item in the collection. Over the next forty plus years as the collection grew, it occupied two more temporary quarters before finally opening in 1896 in its permanent location adjacent to the National Gallery. Today we took our chances and didn’t book a free admission but arrived shortly after the 10:30 AM opening and walked right in. The very first portrait to greet us was that of the reigning monarch, King Charles III. From there we wandered through centuries of British history in a recently renovated space that reopened just last summer. Although it’s possible to visit in such a way as to do a chronological walk through time, we weren’t aware of that and we just meandered through the galleries. Because of the revamp we were treated on this our first visit to a museum with a lot of natural light and with an expanded collection of portraits that represented greater diversity and less stuffiness than before. We enjoyed the descriptions that led us to want to know more about certain individuals and historical events. Once we reached our museum saturation point, we made our way to Floor 4, The Borthwick Room for a cup of tea and some delicious food as well as a fabulous view across the rooftops of Central London. This is definitely a place to which we could easily return to drink in more of the rich history presented in the permanent collection. Should we get the opportunity to visit again, we’ll make sure we catch the Tudors which we somehow missed today.
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