Home Destinations Europe England London Sights University College London

University College London Review

Read our London sights reviews. Or post your own.

University College London

Address: Malet Pl., Bloomsbury, London, WC1E 6BT

Category: Educational Institutions
Location: Bloomsbury and Legal London

Write a review

Fodor's Review:

The college was founded in 1826 and set in a satisfyingly classical edifice designed by the architect of the National Gallery, William Wilkins. In 1907 it became part of the University of London, providing higher education without religious exclusion. The college has within its portals the Slade School of Fine Art, which did for many of Britain's artists what the nearby Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (on Gower Street) did for its actors. On view inside is a fine collection of sculpture by an alumnus, John Flaxman.

You can also see more Egyptian artifacts, if you didn't get enough at the neighboring British Museum, in the Petrie Museum (020/7679-2884. www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk. Tues.-Fri. 10-5, Sat. 10-1), accessed from Malet Place, on the first floor of the DMS Watson building. It houses an outstanding, huge collection of fascinating objects of Egyptian archaeology—jewelry, toys, papyri, and some of the world's oldest garments. The South Cloisters contain one of London's weirder treasures: the clothed skeleton of one of the university's founders, Jeremy Bentham, who bequeathed himself to the college. At this writing, plans were afoot to rehouse the museum in purpose-built galleries on three floors of the UCL's future Institute of Cultural Heritage in 2011. Check the Web site for more information.