Wellington Arch

Built in the late 1820s to mark Britain’s triumph over Napoleonic France, Decimus Burton’s Wellington Arch was initially topped by an out-of-proportion equestrian statue of Wellington, but since 1912, Captain Adrian Jones’s 38-tonne bronze 'Peace Descending on the Quadriga of War' has finished it with a flourish. There's a permanent display about the history of the Arch and, on the top two floors, the Quadriga Gallery, the exhibition programme of which explores the history and heritage of England. You'll get terrific views of Hyde Park, Green Park and the London skyline – best in the less clement months, when there are fewer leaves in the way. The bookshop sells English Heritage publications.