Should you find yourself kicking around Old Blighty with time on your hands, take the London tube’s Central Line to Holborn Station, then walk to Lincoln’s Inn Fields near the law offices and courts and see the mightiest extant olde-tyme cabinet of wonders in pristine form.  A biggish town house crammed with marvels by effective but eccentric architect Sir John Soane (1753-1827), whose London landmarks include the Bank of England, Chelsea’s Royal Hospital and the fabled Dulwich Picture Gallery.  The Museum is chockablock with statuary, whole and fragmental, ancient and copies, jewelry, timepieces, drawings, paintings and prints, plus all the furnishings and décor of a fine Georgian home.  The use of mirrors, skylights, crannies and peepholes makes the viewing experience surreal in a three-dimensional way and multiplies views and perspectives like a kaleidoscope.  For a fairly small museum, this one requires slow and deliberate viewing to absorb all the true oddness of Soane’s imagination and sensibility.  Don’t miss the Gothick Monk’s Parlour for thrills and chills.

For details of visiting see:  www.soane.org

Artist’s rendering of details from the Soane Collection: