Sir John Soane's Museum

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Sir John Soane's Museum The house and museum of Sir John Soane, renowned neo-classical architect. Home to an eclectic collect Welcome to the page of Sir John Soane's Museum.
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Sir John Soane, R.A., architect, was born in 1753, the son of a bricklayer, and died after a long and distinguished career, in 1837. Soane designed his house to live in, but also as a setting for his antiquities and his works of art. After the death of his wife (1815), he lived alone, constantly adding to and rearranging his collections. Having been deeply disappointed by the conduct of his two sons, one of whom survived him, he determined to establish the house as a museum to which ‘amateurs and students’ should have access. The Museum is a building of outstanding originality, with its picturesque vistas and inventive handling of light and space. He filled it with a remarkable collection of art, sculpture, books, drawings and models. The collection includes paintings by Hogarth, Canaletto, Turner and Reynolds; antique sculpture; plaster casts; architectural models and an Egyptian sarcophagus. The objects are arranged in a labyrinth of top-lit spaces, decorated with hundreds of mirrors.

𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 | 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲: 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐬🏛️Discover Michael Landy: Future Ruins, an exhibition of new and recent drawings o...
14/10/2026

𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 | 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲: 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐬🏛️

Discover Michael Landy: Future Ruins, an exhibition of new and recent drawings of iconic buildings in ruins that continue Landy’s decades-long exploration of capitalism, consumerism and destruction.

For Landy, ruins raise profound questions about value, ownership and what we choose to preserve or discard. What happens when even our most celebrated buildings are left to decay? How does ruination reflect wider societal and ecological collapse? And what will we leave behind for future generations?

In the Foyle Space, a monumental sculptural column made from bins and discarded rubbish echoes the layered construction of Soane’s own columns in his Museum.

📅On display until 17 January 2027
🔗https://www.soane.org/exhibitions/michael-landy-future-ruins

📸: Gareth Gardner
This exhibition has been generously supported by The Ampersand Foundation, The Clare McKeon Charitable Trust, The Sybil Trust and the Tavolozza Foundation.

09/10/2026

Meet our 2026 Soane Medallist: Farshid Moussavi 🎖️

The Soane Medal is awarded annually in recognition of architects, artists, critics and educators who have made a major contribution to their field. This year, the Award recognises Farshid’s outstanding contributions to the practice, history and theory of architecture, and her remarkable career in which she divides her time between running a much in-demand London and Paris based practice with her role as Professor in Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

🏅Farshid will collect her award on 24 November at Royal Academy of Arts where she will deliver a lecture that is open to all, followed by a drinks reception.
🎟️🔗Get your tickets to join us there: https://www.soane.org/whats-on/2026-soane-medal-lecture

We are grateful to Hamish and Sophie Forsyth for their generous support of the 2026 Soane Medal.
📽️: David Graham

Tucked away in the basement of Sir John Soane’s Museum is the Monk’s Parlour, a wonderfully eerie corner filled with mys...
07/10/2026

Tucked away in the basement of Sir John Soane’s Museum is the Monk’s Parlour, a wonderfully eerie corner filled with mystery 🕯️

Soane imagined the space as a 'monastic' suite, inhabited by a solitary hermit named Padre Giovanni. He even incorporated architectural fragments and mock ruins in the Monk’s Yard, visible behind the stained glass.

The space, which contains a medley of objects of a medieval character, could be seen as Soane satirizing the rising fashion for Gothic antiquarianism. Mostly, they reveal Soane’s extraordinary ability to blur the boundaries between architecture, collecting and storytelling. Padre Giovanni (Father John) is, of course, an eponym of Sir John Soane himself...

🎃 Step into the shadows and explore this unique space after dark at our Soane Late: Halloween Special - https://www.soane.org/whats-on/soane-late-halloween-special-30-october-2026

📸: Gareth Gardner, Elena Bazu, Derry Moore

02/10/2026

Is this the most lavishly decorated home office? 💼✍️

The Little Study is one of the smallest rooms in the Museum, and yet would have been where Soane
was having some of his biggest ideas!

The room contains a large number of antique marble fragments, nearly all from the collection put
together in Rome by Charles Heathcote Tatham, on behalf of the architect Henry Holland, dating
from the time of the Roman Empire. According to his diary, Soane continued altering and perfecting the display of these pieces right up to his death.

Not a bad working from home set-up!

We’re thrilled to announce that internationally acclaimed architect and educator Farshid Moussavi has been awarded the 2...
28/09/2026

We’re thrilled to announce that internationally acclaimed architect and educator Farshid Moussavi has been awarded the 2026 Soane Medal! 🥇

Selected by a panel of distinguished judges, comprised of architects, critics and curators, the Soane Medal is the latest high-profile recognition in Moussavi’s remarkable career in which she divides her time between running award-winning Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA) with her role as Professor in Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Farshid will collect her Award at Royal Academy of Arts in London on Tuesday 24 November, where she will give a thought-provoking lecture that is open to all, followed by a drinks reception.

🎟️Tickets are now available: https://www.soane.org/whats-on/2026-soane-medal-lecture

A new range of accessories inspired by historic drawings in Sir John Soane’s collection has just launched in the Soane M...
24/09/2026

A new range of accessories inspired by historic drawings in Sir John Soane’s collection has just launched in the Soane Museum Shop, offering new ways to take inspiration from the Museum home with you! 🤩

The collection features two Liberty Fabrics created in collaboration with the Museum for the I Am. We Are. Liberty. collection in 2025, bringing together motifs from exquisite drawings by Giuseppe Manocchi in Soane’s collection with archival Liberty prints and their iconic Paisley design💮🍃

The designs have been transformed into a collection of everyday accessories, from scarves, ties and neckerchiefs to purses, hair accessories and a Regency-inspired reticule, available exclusively from the Soane Museum Shop, offering a new way to encounter the Museum’s collection.

Rolls of fabric and beautiful fabric-covered buttons are also available to purchase, inviting you to find inspiration for your own creative projects 🪡

🛍️ Find out more about the collection and shop now https://shop.soane.org/collections/liberty

As the days grow shorter and the nights draw in, the Museum takes on a new atmosphere, with its extraordinary interiors ...
18/09/2026

As the days grow shorter and the nights draw in, the Museum takes on a new atmosphere, with its extraordinary interiors and eclectic collections illuminated in dramatic pools of light 🕯️

Experience it for yourself at one of our upcoming autumn events…

📅Friday 25 September - Soane Late: Spotlight on Soane
📅Friday 30 October - Soane Late: Halloween Special
📅 Saturday 31 October - Twilight Tour: Descent into the Underworld

🔗🎟️Find out more and book via our website: https://www.soane.org/whats-on

Missing the summer holidays? Let’s take a little trip to Italy… via Canaletto ☀️This is Riva degli Schiavoni, the larges...
16/09/2026

Missing the summer holidays? Let’s take a little trip to Italy… via Canaletto ☀️

This is Riva degli Schiavoni, the largest of three Canaletto paintings purchased by Sir John Soane – a bustling panorama of Venice in exquisite detail, from the grand architecture to the tiny details of everyday life.

With the skies over London starting to turn a little greyer, it’s hard not to be drawn into the warmth and sunshine of Canaletto’s Venice. The size of the painting, and Soane’s placement of it in the Picture Room where it can be seen from the doorway, creates the illusion that you’re simply looking out of a window onto a sunnier place… a rather inviting escape!✈️

✨ Come and see it for yourself on your next visit to the Museum.

Step behind the scenes of No. 14 Lincoln’s Inn Fields at this year’s Open House Festival! ✨Bought by Soane in 1823 and r...
11/09/2026

Step behind the scenes of No. 14 Lincoln’s Inn Fields at this year’s Open House Festival! ✨

Bought by Soane in 1823 and rebuilt to his own designs, No. 14 is the third of Sir John Soane’s houses and a part of the Museum not usually open to the public.

Now home to our Research Library and Adam Study Centre, it is also a beautiful example of Soane’s distinctive architectural style. For Open House, visitors are invited to explore a selection of architectural drawings and models from Soane’s collection, alongside a specially curated selection of rarely seen drawings focusing on the representation of young, working-class Londoners in Georgian London.

📅 Saturday 19 September 2026
🕙 10am – 4pm
📍 No booking required - just drop in!

10/09/2026

Today marks Sir John Soane’s 273rd birthday!🎉

To mark the occasion, Director Will Gompertz takes a closer look at one of his favourite rooms in the Museum - the Lobby to the Breakfast Room!

Despite being one of the smallest spaces in No 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Soane manages to fill it with an array of magnificent casts, providing an interesting transitional experience as you move from the Breakfast Room to the Dome, a double-height space piled high with works of art.

The hang is complemented by Soane’s signature stained glass skylight, which fills the room with a golden yellow hue, which he cleverly draws down into the Catacombs below☀️💛

Even in the smallest of spaces, Soane continues to inspire over two centuries later!

Address

13 Lincoln's Inn Fields
London
WC2A3BP

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+442074052107

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