.... The 13 inner London boroughs are Camden , Hackney , Hammersmith and Fulham , Haringery , Islington , Kensington and Chelsea , Lambeth , Leisham , Neham , Southark , Toer Hamlets , andsorth and the City of estminster . The 19 outer boroughs are Barking and Dagenham , Barnet , Bexley , Brent , Bromley , Croydon , Ealing , Enfield , Greenich , Harro , Havering , Hillingdon , Hounslo , Kingston upon Thames , Merton Redbridge , Richmond upon Thames , Sutton and altham Forest .Museums and Art GalleriesLondons museums and art galleries contain some of the most comprehesive collection of objects of artistic , archaeological , dcientific , historical and general interest . The British Museum in Bloomsbury is one of the biggest an most famous museums in the orld . Its collectionrange from Egyptian and Classical antiquities through Saxon treasures to more recent artefacts .The Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington is an assembly of fine and decorative art collection from all over the orld . There are magnificent examples of porcelain , glass , sculpture , fabrics and costume , furniture , and musical instruments , all set in a building of Victorian grandeur .Nearby are the Museum of Natural History and the Science Museum . On the other side of London , in the city itself , is the Museum of London , hich has exhibits dealing ith the development of the capital from its origins to the present day .The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square contains one of the finest mixed collections of paintings in the orld . Next door is the NationalPortrait Gallery , hose collection includes more than 9,000 portraits . The Tate Gallery , situated on the Embankmen beteen Chelsea and estminster , houses the largest collection of British painting from the 16th century to the present day . In 1987 an extension opened to house the paintings bequeathed to the nation by J.M..Turner . There are plans to establish a ne Tate Gallery of Modern Art in Southark , near the reconstructed Shakespearean theatre , the Globe .Other important collections in the capital include the Imperial ar Museum , the National Army Museum , the Royal Air Force Museum , the National Maritime Museum , the allace Collection of paintings , furniture , arms and armour , and objets dart , Sir John Soanes Museum founded by the architect of the Bank of England in the City , and the London Transport Museum . The Queens Gallery in Buckingham Palace has axhibitions of pictures from the extensive royal collection . The Theatre Museum displays the history of the performings arts , hile the Museum of the Moving Image traces the history of film and television .The British Library , the national library of Britain , has a collection of more than 150 million separate items . Publishers must deposit in the Library a copy of everything they publishMedieval LondonViking raids in the 19th century affected all England . London as a prime target and for that reason strategically ever more important for the survival of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms . In consequence London replaced inchester as the defacto capital of the southern kingdoms . Time and again in the 9th and 10th centuries the city as assailed and chroniclers report savage attacks and heroic defences . Defence needs led to the emergence of aldermen headmen of the precincts or ards of the city , ho serves as its military defenders . Here liethe roots of Londons later local government system.Though the Viking threatas eventually seen off , the Anglo Saxon monarchy could not repulse the Normans . After the defeat of King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 , illiam , Duke of Normandy , quickly installed himself in London , had himself croned on Chrismas Day and made it his headquarters , building the hite Toer , a monumental stone keep that as to form the core of the Toer of London . The Normans restordthe alls and rebuilt London Bridge in stone for the first time . illiam II , the Conquerors son , developed estminster Hall 3km 2 mi upriver from the Toer as his royal palace and a bolt-hole safe from fractious burghers . Thereafter , the capitals history as alays in some measure a tale of to cities the City of London itself , the square mile first circumscribed by the Roman alls , settled by the Saxons and Normans , and destined to become the economic activity and , on the other hand , the City of estminster ith its to focuses of estminster Abbey andestminster Hall , hich became the home of the royal court and later of Parliament .The Normans and later the Plantagenets , made England strong and London flourished as their capital and as a port and manufacturing centre . Much of Englands lucrative trade in ool and agricultural produce as floated don the Thames and exported via the harves and jetties just donstream of London Bridge . ithin the alls , skilled crafts flourished and especially from the 14th century , these ere organized into over 100guilds , such as the Mercers , Salters , Fishmongers and Vintners . A mixture of trade union and empliyers company , guilds ere self-regulating bodies ith the poer to admit apprentices and appoint freemen ho thereby became citizens .Trades ere localized and often associated ith a particular street that still survives todayfor example , ood Street , Milk Street , Ironmonger Lane and Poultry still branch off Cheapside cheap is from the Anglo Saxon for market .London developed administrative institutions . From just before 1200 there is evidence of a mayor . This official seems to have had dual loyalties , being in part an officer of the Cron charged ith carrying out royal bussiness , hile also serving as a focus for citizen loyality a tension indicative of the often strained relationship beteen the City and the Cro in the latter part of the Middle Ages . Many kings , notably the Edards , treated the City of London as a milch co , a handy source of taxes and revenues . Yet only a foolish monarch ould risk permanently alienating the loyalties of the merchant princes of the City of London , as Charles I as later to discover to his cost .From the 15th century , Londons government as conducted from the Guildhall , an impressive stone buildin...
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