British Museum

Parked squarely in the middle of London, the British Museum is one of the world's premier epicenters for education. It's the oldest national public museum in the world, and it features over 8 million items in its collection. And as a public museum, admission is free. The city believes education and history belongs freely to the world, and does the British Museum ever offer a lot of it.

The theme behind the museum is human history, and its varying collections weave a tapestry of human development through the ages. Departments include:

Ancient Egypt

Greece

Middle East

Prehistory

Europe

Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Asia

and rotating specialty exhibits (which aren’t free)

Must-see items include the Rosetta Stone, Parthenon sculptures, and impressive Samurai armor.