National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery on St Martin's Place next to the National Gallery in London was, in 1856, the first museum anywhere devoted exclusively to portraiture. The current Italian Renaissance-styled building by Ewan Christian opened in 1896 and is listed Grade I. The collection holds more than 220.000 works, including 150.000 prints and photographs, ranging from Hans Holbein's Tudor portraits through Stuart and Georgian poets to Sam Taylor-Johnson's sleeping-Beckham video. Closed for three years for a major refit by Jamie Fobert, the gallery reopened in June 2023 with a new public entrance on Ross Place to the north, restored Victorian halls and the Tudor collection moved up to a redesigned first-floor suite. Admission to the permanent display, as at most national museums in the UK, is free.