It's 200 years ago that the National Gallery, London was founded. It stated off in Pall Mall, close to St James's Palace, but was far too small and the government decided a better venue was necessary. So a competition was instigated - and the winner is the one on the north side of Trafalgar Square. It was initially started with a bequest of 35 pictures, but now there are several hundreds - thereby making the gallery one of the best in the world. In WW2 there were lunch time concerts and the pianist Myra Hess, was a very popular regular player. The priceless pictures and sculptures were all removed and placed in a disused slate mine in North Wales and supervised by Sir Kenneth Clark, the famous director. He is better known by the general public as the face of the extraordinary series Civilization, on the BBC. I often go to visit the gallery as there always so much to see and enjoy - it's such a delight to walk around and see so many outstanding pieces of art.
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