London has long brimmed with collections of priceless artefacts stored in museums, galleries, and private houses. None so much so than Sir John Soane’s Museum near Lincoln’s Inn Fields in central London. Originally a private house of the renowned architect Sir John Soane (1753-1837) who designed the Bank of England, it became a private museum upon his death in 1837 and is free for all to visit.
As a talented student, Soane received a scholarship to embark on the Grand Tour of Europe, a trip now also known as the eighteenth-century equivalent of a “gap yah”. It was from this visit and many thereafter that inspired him to start a mind-boggling collection of historical artefacts ranging from Greek, Roman, and Egyptian antiquity as well as architectural drawings, sculptures, and designs of his own- all housed in three unassuming buildings off Holborn station.
And it’s an absolute labyrinth of a place. It’s organised chaos manifested, not only by the sheer number of stuff the place has but the spaces themselves. Soane purposefully designed each space in his house to highlight his sprawling collection, from how each artefact should be placed to how to maximise the use of tight spaces.
In the Picture Room for example, walls where many of Hogarth and Canaletto’s paintings are draped on are actually panels that open up to reveal even more of Hogarth’s paintings. The 13ft squared room contains 118 paintings, what would have taken a normal gallery several rooms to display.
The lighting in the house itself makes it feel like you’re in a doll house- natural light is filtered and refracted from all different angles that the lighting of one room can feel completely different from one side to the other. In the Monk’s Room, stained glass creates a soft spray of light from above one section while the rest of the room is submerged in complete darkness.
All these effects create a disorienting experience- the house seems to expand and contract as you move from one space to another. In the Central Dome, the passageways are so packed with sculptures you’ll feel like the bull in a china shop- afraid of toppling one precious statue of a Greek god as you stand back to admire another. But in the New Picture Room right beside it, there is barely anything there- it’s as if air has been let back into a vacuumed cylinder. This is an experience that no photo could capture; only going there yourself could the wonderful manipulation of light and space be fully experienced.
The thousands of objects on display each have their individual stories and importance, but you won’t find a placard telling you what they are or where they’re from. Some -like mini statues of Hercules, Grecian urns, or Shakespeare’s sculptured head- are recognisable enough, but the museum’s excellent team of visitor assistants are the true oral keepers of these objects, full of facts and anecdotes about the house and its inanimate lodgers.
It’s definitely a place to visit and revisit, if only just to find a new detail each time and admire the design that goes behind it. With its deceptive spaces and paraphernalia of ancient antiquities, it’s a house that seems to be stuck in its own eclectic bubble.
Sir John Soane’s Museum is free to visit. Opens Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00-17:00.
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