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Ninety seconds on National Portrait Gallery
The gallery opens at 10.30 every day. It closes at 18.00 from Sunday to Thursday and at 21.00 on Fridays and Saturdays. Last entry is 17.30, or 20.30 on Fridays and Saturdays, and closing begins ten minutes ahead of the stated time.
General admission is free to everyone, and some temporary exhibitions carry a charge and are ticketed separately. Booking a free slot in advance is recommended, both to guarantee entry and to receive updates before the visit.
The gallery stands on St Martin's Place, WC2H 0HE. Charing Cross station is 320 metres away, Charing Cross Underground 230 metres, Leicester Square 195 metres and Embankment 490 metres. The nearest bus stop is Stop K at Trafalgar Square.
The main entrance is at Ross Place, and every entrance has step-free access. The groups entrance is on St Martin's Place. Since the 2023 reopening, St Martin's Place is no longer the visitor entrance for individuals.
About 90 minutes covers the main displays, from the Tudor portraits forward to the present day. A temporary exhibition, lunch in the Level 4 restaurant or a stop at the street-level café adds time to the visit.
Yes, in the main galleries, provided it is worn on the front or carried by hand; otherwise it goes in the cloakroom on Floor 0. Bags over 35 by 25 by 15 centimetres are not permitted in temporary exhibitions. Cloakroom space is limited at busy times.
Walking these rooms takes you through Britain's history in faces, from the Tudors to the present day, in a free gallery beside Trafalgar Square that opens late on Fridays and Saturdays.
The hang runs in time order, beginning with the Tudor portraits, the earliest part of the collection. The whole collection was redisplayed when the gallery reopened in June 2023 after a three-year closure, with a new visitor entrance at Ross Place.
Opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world devoted to portraits, and the first portrait given to it was the Chandos portrait.
The collection runs to about 195,000 portraits, so any visit sees only a selection of it. On Floor 3, Room 5 holds the Making Portrait Miniatures gallery.
The gallery's free digital guide, in the Bloomberg Connects app, carries audio tours and exhibition content.
Ross Place is the main entrance. From there, head for the Tudor portraits first, then work forward through the centuries. Bring headphones if you want the audio tours on your phone as you go.
In the main galleries a backpack has to be worn on your front or carried in the hand. Food and drink are not allowed in the galleries, so break at the Audrey Green café at street level, or for a meal at the Portrait Restaurant on Level 4.
Pair it with the National Gallery, then sit out in Trafalgar Square.
Take a free slot online before a day that is fixed, because only a booking guarantees entry.
Temporary exhibitions stop admitting an hour before closing, earlier than the main galleries.
There is no car park. Charing Cross and Leicester Square stations are close, but neither has a lift.
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