The British Museum (London): When Sir Hans Sloane died in 1753, he bequeathed to England his vast collection of art and antiquities for only £20,000 ($32,000). This formed the nucleus of the collection that would one day embrace everything from the Rosetta stone to the hotly contested Elgin marbles (Greece wants them back). It's all here -- and much, much more -- in one of the world's great museums.

The National Gallery (London): One of the world's greatest collections of Western art dazzles the eye. Every artist from da Vinci to Rembrandt to Picasso is represented here. The gallery is especially rich in works by Renaissance artists.

Tate Britain (London): Two great national collections -- some 10,000 works -- call this gallery home. Sir Henry Tate, a sugar producer, started the collection with only 70 or so paintings. But the Tate has grown and grown and was considerably enlarged when J. M. W. Turner bequeathed some 300 paintings and 19,000 watercolors to England upon his death. The Tate Modern, a repository of avant-garde modern art, is directly across the river.

The American Museum (Claverton, 3km/2 miles east of Bath, Avon): Housed in a neoclassical country house, this collection presents 2 centuries of American life and styles -- including George Washington's mother's recipe for gingerbread.

The Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge, East Anglia): Although London dominates the museum list, some outstanding regional museums exist, including this gem near King's College. Exhibits range from paintings by Titian and Renoir to Chinese, Egyptian, and Greek antiquities.

Walker Art Gallery (Liverpool, Lancashire): One of the finest collections of European and British paintings in Britain, this gallery deserves to be better known. A nearly complete study of British paintings is displayed here, from Tudor days to the present. The gallery also owns an outstanding collection of pre-Raphaelites.