Education and Culture of London

~ Institutions of Higher Learning
Although Britain’s most prestigious universities are located outside London, the city attracts large numbers of students seeking postsecondary education and has a vast array of colleges, universities, academies, and institutes.

The centrepiece of this educational establishment is the University of London in Bloomsbury, founded in 1836. It is made up of a number of colleges, schools, and attached institutes, which range from the London School of Economics and Political Science to King’s College and several medical schools.

Lesser-known universities in London include Kingston University and the University of Westminster.

London is also the home of a host of related institutions offering advanced education in the fine arts, such as the Royal Academy of Arts, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the Royal College of Music, the Royal Ballet School, and the London Contemporary Dance School.

~ Performing Arts
London is one of the world’s great centers for classical and popular culture. It has enjoyed a reputation for superb theater since the time of Shakespeare in the 16th century.

The variety ranges from the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Centre and the Royal National Theatre at the South Bank Centre, to the West End’s commercial theaters.

Major musicals, such as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera and Cats, dominate the West End scene. Classic and contemporary works are also presented in places such as the Drury Lane Theatre.

The lavish Royal Opera House is the home of the Royal Opera Company and the Royal Ballet, while the English National Opera performs operas in English at the London Coliseum, and the Spitalfields Market Opera brings chamber opera to this East End area.

Regular seasons of classical and modern dance are performed by the Royal Ballet, the English National Ballet, the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, the Rambert Dance Company, and several others.

The sheer number of symphony orchestras is impressive and includes the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, as well as smaller ensembles such as the English Chamber Orchestra and the Academy of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields.

Some of the most well-known concert halls in the world provide venues for the cornucopia of performances in London.

These halls include the large Royal Festival Hall in the South Bank Centre, the Barbican Concert Hall, the splendid iron-and-glass-domed Royal Albert Hall, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, and Wigmore Hall, known for its excellent acoustics.

Free lunchtime concerts are given in a number of historic churches, such as Saint Martin-in-the-Fields and Saint Mary-le-Bow.

The popular music scene in London is dynamic and in a constant state of flux.

Major performances take place in some of the larger concert halls, others in megavenues, such as Earl’s Court and Wembley Arena, when major bands come to London on world tours.

Examples of the diverse offerings in the 1990s include jazz at Ronnie Scott’s, indie rock (music produced on independent labels) at the Amersham Arms, world music at the Africa Centre, and dozens of dance clubs.

Black musicians are a significant force in British popular music.

Not only are black bands an important part of the London dance scene, but black musicians promote reggae music and British versions of American soul music. There are also radio stations devoted to music by black artists.

~ Museums and Galleries
London itself is a living museum, with more than 2000 years of history and culture. But it also boasts one of the greatest concentrations of significant museums (more than 100) of any city in the world.

The jewel in this cultural crown is the British Museum, with 4 km (2.5 mi) of galleries and more than 4 million exhibits. Its collections range from Egyptian and classical antiquities to exhibits on Roman and Anglo-Saxon Britain, China, Japan, India, and Mesopotamia.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington displays an important and varied collection of applied arts.

Decorative arts on display range from tapestries, furniture, and sculptures to paintings, clothing, and metalwork.

Across the street are the Natural History Museum with its dinosaurs, and the Science Museum, which includes a renowned section on the history of medicine.

The Museum of London, next to the City’s Barbican Centre, effectively introduces visitors to London’s history by walking them through successive eras chronologically.
London is a major repository of the greatest Western art and a creative center for contemporary artists.

The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square contains Britain’s premier art collection, with holdings from every major European art school.

Next door is the National Portrait Gallery, with thousands of striking portraits of Britons, both the well known and the unfamiliar.

The Tate Gallery contains the principal collection of British art and modern international art. The smaller Courtauld Institute Galleries specialize in works by impressionists and postimpressionists.

Commercial galleries exhibit the best of what is currently being produced in London and internationally, such as the Saatchi Collection in Saint John’s Wood, a growing contemporary collection established in a former warehouse; and Flowers East in the East End, which features artwork by young British artists.

Other specialty museums are the National Army Museum; the Theatre Museum, which traces the history of the performing arts; and the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI), focused on the history of film and with a vast array of motion pictures and moviemaking equipment.

Some excellent smaller museums are Sir John Soane’s Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, based on this eccentric and talented architect’s own home and drawings, and the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, which specializes in dolls and toys.

~ Cultural Events
Annual cultural events demonstrate a broad range of interests among Londoners. The best known of the classical music festivals is the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts (“the Proms”).

Held in the Royal Albert Hall from July to September, they have been a London tradition for more than a hundred years.

A wide selection of classical works is offered, at relatively low prices, ending with the celebrated “Last Night at the Proms,” when concertgoers can indulge their nostalgia for the former British Empire by belting out “Rule Britannia,” “Land of Hope and Glory,” or “Jerusalem.”

Other annual events are the six-week Dance Umbrella, featuring new works by young artists and choreographers; the London Film Festival, held at cinemas throughout the city every November, which features the best new films from around the world; and the Soho Jazz Festival every fall.

One of London’s most popular public events is the Notting Hill Carnival, held each year during the August Bank Holiday (last weekend in August). This Caribbean street festival originated out of dance parties organized in the 1950s by Trinidadians.

The festival features dozens of bands playing soca, soul, and reggae music and Caribbean food sold on the streets. Costume parades are the main attraction.

More than a million revelers take part in the festival, making this one of the largest street festivals in the world.

~ Recreation
While London is intensively built up, it has a plentiful supply of green space set aside for parks, playgrounds, and sports fields.

The largest open space in central London is Hyde Park and its western extension, Kensington Gardens.

At the northeast corner of Hyde Park is Marble Arch, which originally stood in front of Buckingham Palace.

Separating Hyde Park from Kensington Gardens is the Serpentine, a lake created for boating and swimming.

Directly to the east, two other Royal Parks, Green Park and Saint James’s Park, provide a continuous stretch of greenbelt ending at the heart of Westminster.

Other major parks include Battersea Park, with many activities for children; Hampstead Heath, with its expanse of grassland and woodland; and Regent’s Park, where the London Zoo is located.

Sports are big business in London. Football, the sport known as soccer in the United States, draws huge crowds for matches between two north London rivals, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

The Football Association Cup Final is traditionally held at Wembley Stadium, a large facility in the London suburb of Wembley.

The venue was closed in 2000 and a new 90,000-seat stadium is scheduled to replace it by 2006.

World-class tennis takes place on the grass courts at Wimbledon each summer, and Lord's, the home of English cricket, hosts the international Test matches between England and its former colonies.