(Above) Children playing on the front lawn of the Geffrye Museum
10 museums and galleries have grouped together to form CultureLine, a partnership which celebrates being linked by new London Overground service, the East London Line.
The new line, which officially opens on Sunday May 23, will mean the museums and galleries are just walking distance from a rail stop, making them all much more accessible to the public.
“The East London Line is a great opportunity for the museums in Hackney to share the stories of past and present with new visitors,” says Kim Wright Corporate Director for Community Services at Hackney Council.
“It also gives our regular visitors a much easier journey to visit some of the real gems of history along the line.”
Opening night of an exhibition at The Women’s Library - one of the ten cultural venues now in partnership
The ten museums and galleries hold some of London’s most exciting treasures including Africa’s largest mask, George Washington’s false teeth, a marine iguana from Darwin’s expedition to the Galapagos Islands and the purse of the suffragette who threw herself under King George V’s horse.
The venues also range from the family-friendly exhibitions and gardens of the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill to elegant English domestic interiors at the Geffrye Museum in Shoreditch and an international programme of contemporary and 20th century art at the Whitechapel Gallery.
Lesser known treasures like The Women’s Library, Museum of Croydon and The Royal Hospital Museum offer an exciting alternative to central London hotspots and a chance to discover a different side of the capital.
Family fun at the Brunel Museum
Thanks to the new line, travel from the Geffrye Museum to the Horniman Museum now takes less than 30 minutes.
“The Line has opened up the Horniman to new communities and we look forward to welcoming many new visitors”, says Janet Vitmayer, Chief Executive of the Horniman Museum.
"Frederick Horniman sought to bring the world to Forest Hill and the opening of the Culture Line brings visitors from all over the world closer to the Horniman”
For more information on CultureLine visit http://www.cultureline.org.uk/.
Images courtesy of Colman Getty
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