CultureLine Connects the Hidden Treasures of London

CultureLine – A Rail Link that Creates New Cultural Connections:

Horniman Museum Interior - Image by Simon and Ashley..

London may have more museums and galleries than anywhere else in the world, but this has not stopped the City of London from exposing more of its hidden treasures to culture lovers.

A new rail line linking the city’s north and south via the East End and Docklands is making some hidden London museums in the eastern shores more accessible to Londoners and tourists.

What is CultureLine?

CultureLine is currently a group of 10 museums and galleries which can be found along the 22-kilometre length of the new London Overground East London Line.   Another museum will be joining in 2011.  Officially opened on 23 May, 2010, the line runs from Dalston Junction in North-East London to West Croydon in the South-East.  Along the route, visitors can stop at 10 museums which are within easy walking distance of the respective stations.

CultureLine is an initiative of the 10 museums, libraries and Archives Council and visitors to the museums get to see the secret London museums whose exhibits tell of the hidden history of the place and people. The Geffrye Museum shows visitors the interiors of the English home across the centuries.  At the Crystal Palace Museum are London’s last surviving link with the 19th century Crystal Palace, and then there are the forensic medicine features on the Jack the Ripper murders at the Royal London Hospital Museum. Other curious exhibits include George Washington’s false teeth and a marine iguana from Darwin’s expedition to the Galapagos Islands, just to mention a few.

The 10 CultureLine museums and their respective East London Line stations are:

• Hackney Museum – Dalston Junction Station
• Geffrye Museum – Hoxton Station
• Wesley’s Chapel – Shoreditch High Street Station
• The Royal London Hospital Museum – Whitechapel Station
• Whitechapel Gallery – Whitechapel Station
• The Women’s Library – Whitechapel Station
• Brunel Museum – Rotherhithe Station
• Horniman Museum – Forest Hill Station
• Crystal Palace Museum – Crystal Palace Station
• Museum of Croydon – West Croydon Station

In 2011, The Estorick Art Gallery will join CultureLine to become the eleventh museum when the East London Line reaches Highbury & Islington.

For more about the museums participating in CultureLine, plus exhibitions and full opening times see www.cultureline.org.uk.

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