iSir John Soane turned three adjacent townhouses into one of the most extraordinary personal museums in the world. Every surface is covered: Roman antiquities, architectural models, paintings (including Hogarth's A Rake's Progress), Egyptian sarcophagi. The basement crypt is genuinely atmospheric. The museum preserves everything as it was when Soane died in 1837, right down to the mirrors he used to bounce light into windowless rooms. Small, intense, and unlike anything else.

Michael Landy's meticulous watercolour and pen drawings imagining iconic buildings, including Soane's own museum, as overgrown future ruins.

A new film in the Foyle Space on how changing light alters our sense of space, drawn from Belinfante's 2023 residency and Soane's use of openings, coloured glass and mirrors.

Contemporary artist Gavin Turk responds to the Museum's Building Archive with new sculptural works, including a major installation, "Looking Glass," in the Foyle Space.

The alabaster sarcophagus of Pharaoh Seti I — 3,300 years old and carved throughout — displayed in Soane's atmospheric basement crypt.

Forty of the finest architectural models in Soane's collection, alongside his library of drawings — an unmatched record of Georgian architectural ambition.

Hogarth's complete series on hinged wall panels that fold out to reveal three layers of paintings — a uniquely ingenious display solution.

Soane's eccentric fictitious crypt and catacomb passages, filled with medieval stonework, classical fragments, and architectural debris.
| Mon | Closed |
| Tue | Closed |
| Wed | 10:00–17:00 |
| Thu | 10:00–17:00 |
| Fri | 10:00–17:00 |
| SatToday | 10:00–17:00 |
| Sun | 10:00–17:00 |
Free
Limited accessibility due to the historic Georgian townhouse setting. Narrow passages and stairs throughout. Virtual tours available online.
Last verified