East London line connects culture

exhibit from the Whitechapel Gallery’s current exhibition: ‘Rachel Harrison: Conquest of the Useless’. Photo: Jason Mandella

Exhibit from the Whitechapel Gallery’s current exhibition: ‘Rachel Harrison: Conquest of the Useless’. Photo: Jason Mandella

It is time to get on the East London line and experience some culture. The new transport line, which runs from Dalston Junction in the north to New Cross, Crystal Palace, and West Croydon in the south, is being officially launched this Sunday.  It will connect ten of London’s best-loved museums and galleries so that people from south east London can easily experience the cultural delights of the East End and vice versa.

CultureLine, a group of ten museums and galleries scattered along the line, will be launching on Friday this week in time for the official launch of the East London Line on Sunday. The transport line will allow new audiences a chance to glimpse the museums’ treasure troves and delights.

The oldest tunnel in the London metro system, the purse of the suffragette who threw herself under King George’s horse as well as information on the extraordinary life of Joseph Merrick – the Elephant man, will all be within easy reach of locals up and down the East London line.

A Brockley resident  said she was happy that it would now be easier for her to experience some of the less well-known museums in London:

“I didn’t know there was a Royal Hospital Museum, I would definitely be interested in visiting that. Before it was very convoluted getting further north east, and there are usually a lot of things happening in east London but the transport was always a deterrent.”

The Museum of Croydon is the furthest south of the museums, while the Hackney Museum at Dalston Junction station is the furthest north. Between the two there are the Geffrye Museum, Wesley’s Chapel, The Woman’s Library, Whitechapel Gallery and several more.

Janet Vitmayer, Chief Executive of the Horniman Museum near Forest Hill station, said of the project:

“The CultureLine has created a corridor of exciting destinations that will be a real draw for visitors, and which offers huge scope for many diverse itineraries that will appeal to a wide range of people.  It will now be very easy to spend the morning at the Whitechapel [Gallery] followed by an afternoon at the Horniman [Museum].”

The full list of the museums involved is:

Hackney Museum

Geffrye Museum

Wesley’s Chapel

The Royal London Hospital Museum

Whitechapel Gallery

The Women’s Library,

Brunel Museum

Horniman Museum

Crystal Palace Museum

Museum of Croydon.

For more information on what CultureLine is up to visit www.cultureline.org.uk

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