The world's most beautiful museums revealed

One of the three major museums on London's Exhibition Road, the Natural History Museum is home to around 80 million life and earth science specimens including Hope, the blue whale skeleton suspended dramatically over Hintze Hall. Designed by civil engineer Captain Francis Fowke with revisions by Alfred Waterhouse, the Romanesque-style building opened in 1881 and is easily recognizable thanks to the extensive use of terracotta tiles, made to resist the sooty atmosphere of Victorian London. The museum is offering virtual tours too. Read our guide to London here.