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Dulwich Picture Gallery
When the Dulwich Picture Gallery opened its doors in 1817 it was the first purpose-built public art gallery in England. It offers a relaxed, pleasing ambience and a perfect setting for an impressive, rotating collection boasting a number of works by European masters. The Gallery hosts events for adults and for children, music, films and children's classes, there is a café and great gardens.

Its solid collection includes works by Pousssin, Claude, Rubens, Murillo, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Watteau and Gainsborough, originally assembled for the King of Poland in 1790 as an ‘instant’ national collection. When Poland was wiped off the map in 1795 after a series of disastrous wars, the King’s collection became available and was eventually housed in Dulwich.

Designed by Sir John Soane and situated across from Dulwich Park, the Gallery resembles an unprepossessing civic building on the outside. Once inside however, visitors are treated to a lesson in architectural simplicity, and the architect’s visionary design of a series of interlinked rooms lit by natural light through overhead skylights has been the primary influence for art galleries ever since.