GREAT BRITAIN - Best of Europe 2014 - page 787

▲▲▲ National Portrait Gallery
Put off by halls of 19th-century characters who meant nothing to me, I used to call this “as
interesting as someone else's yearbook.” But a selective walk through this 500-year-long
Who's Who of British history is quick and free, and puts faces on the story of England.
Some highlights: Henry VIII and wives; portraits of the “Virgin Queen” Elizabeth I, Sir
Francis Drake, and Sir Walter Raleigh; the only real-life portrait of William Shakespeare;
Oliver Cromwell and Charles I with his head on; portraits by Gainsborough and Reynolds;
the Romantics (William Blake, Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, and company); Queen
Victoria and her era; and the present royal family, including the late Princess Diana.
Thecollectioniswell-described,nothuge,andinhistoricalsequence,fromthe16thcen-
tury on the second floor to today's royal family on the ground floor.
Cost and Hours: Free, but suggested donation of £5, temporary (optional) exhibits ex-
tra, audioguide-£3, floor plan-£1; daily 10:00-18:00, Thu-Fri until 21:00, first and second
floorsopenMonat11:00,lastentrytospecialexhibits45minutesbeforeclosing,nophotos,
basement café and top-floor view restaurant; entry 100 yards off Trafalgar Square (around
the corner from National Gallery, opposite Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields), Tube: Char-
ing Cross or Leicester Square, tel. [phone], recorded info tel. [phone],
www.npg.org.uk .
▲ St. Martin-in-the-Fields
The church, built in the 1720s with a Gothic spire atop a Greek-type temple, is an oasis of
peace on wild and noisy Trafalgar Square. St. Martin cared for the poor. “In the fields” was
wherethefirstchurchstoodonthisspot(inthe13thcentury),between Westminster andThe
City.Steppinginside,youstillfeelacompassionfortheneedsofthepeopleinthisneighbor-
hood—thechurchservesthehomelessandhousesaChinesecommunitycenter.Themodern
east window—with grillwork bent into the shape of a warped cross—was installed in 2008
to replace one damaged in World War II.
A freestanding glass pavilion to the left of the church serves as the entrance to the
church's underground areas. There you'll find the concert ticket office, a gift shop, brass-
rubbing center, and the recommended support-the-church Café in the Crypt.
Cost and Hours: Free, but donations welcome, £3.50 audio-guide at shop downstairs;
hoursvarybutgenerallyMon-Fri8:30-13:00&14:00-18:00,Sat9:30-13:00&14:00-18:00,
Sun 15:30-17:00; Tube: Charing Cross, tel. [phone], www.smitf.org .
Music: The church is famous for its concerts. Consider a free lunchtime concert (sug-
gested £3 donation; Mon, Tue, and Fri at 13:00), an evening concert (£8-28, several nights a
weekat19:30),orWednesdaynightjazzattheCaféintheCrypt(£5.50or£9,at20:00).See
the church's website for the concert schedule.