Jewish Museum

Opened in March 2010 after a ten-million-pound transformation, the Jewish Museum London is a brilliant exploration of Jewish life in Britain since 1066, combining fun interactives – you can wield the iron in a tailor’s sweatshop, sniff chicken soup, pose for a wedding photo or take part in some Yiddish theatre – with serious history. There’s a powerful Holocaust section, using the testimony of a single survivor, Leon Greenman, to bring tight focus to the unimaginable horror of it all. Opposite, a beautiful room of religious artefacts, including a 17th-century synagogue ark and silver Torah ornaments, does an elegant job of introducing Jewish ritual. Access is free to the downstairs café, located beside an ancient ritual bath, and to the shop.