University College London

University College London Review

The college was founded in 1826 and set in a 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 actors. The South Cloisters contain one of London's weirder treasures: the skeleton of one of the university's founders, Jeremy Bentham, who bequeathed himself to the college. Legend has it that students from a rival college, King's College London, once stole Bentham's head and played football with it. Whether or not the story is apocryphal, Bentham's clothed skeleton, stuffed with straw and topped with a wax head, now sits (literally) in the UCL collection. Be sure to take a look at the stunning Gotham-esque Senate House on Malet Street.

Petrie Museum. If you didn't get your fill of Egyptian artifacts at the British Museum, you can see more in the neighboring Petrie Museum, accessed from the DMS Watson building. The museum houses an outstanding, huge collection of fascinating objects of Egyptian archaeology—jewelry, toys, papyri, and some of the world's oldest garments. 020/7679-2884. www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk. Free, donations appreciated. Tues.-Sat. 1-5; closed over Christmas and Easter holidays.