London's museums are getting snap happy in the first #MuseumInstaSwap

Ten of London's most popular museums are going on a cultural exchange powered by social media. Instagram has invited the city's ten most popular Instagramming museums on a slumber party of sorts in the UK's first #MuseumInstaSwap.

They've all been selected for their gorgeous 'gramming skills and have been paired up with a fellow museum to swap locations with their exchange buddy for the week. They'll look around each other's museums for stories that fit with their own collections and share what they discover on Instagram.

The Imperial War Museum has disappeared into the depths of the British Museum's archives.

 

10 London museums have paired up on @instagram this week to connect over stories and themes. Our partner is the vast, varied and very exciting @britishmuseum. We'll be exploring their amazing collections, going behind the scenes and finding links between their museum and ours. Follow #MuseumInstaSwap all week to see what secrets lie behind this door and the amazing connections we've made.

Meanwhile the Design Museum has gone gaga over the Science Museum's bicycle installation.

 

#MuseumInstaSwap What better way to start the week than with a focus on a design classic. Is this wonderful bicycle installation on the Science Museum ceiling getting you excited for #CycleRevolution? #DesignMuseum #design #ScienceMusin #science #bikes #cycling #bicycles 10 London museums have paired up on @instagram this week to connect over stories and themes. Follow #MuseumInstaSwap to see @sciencemuseum through the @designmuseum lens

 
The V&A has hopped across the road to take its design-led Instagram feed into the world of the Natural History Museum.

 

The @natural_history_museum's building is a work of art in its own right. Here we look at its Romanesque #architecture and #terracotta #interiors. #MuseumInstaSwap Visit vam.ac.uk to find out about the V&A + @riba Architecture Partnership to promote the understanding and enjoyment of architecture

A photo posted by Victoria and Albert Museum (@vamuseum) on Aug 24, 2015 at 4:56am PDT

 
The Natural History Museum is discovering beautifully carved shells in the V&A.

 

This 17th-century Nautilus cup couldn't help but catch our eye during our #MuseumInstaSwap explorations. Like the Nautilus pompilius shell on display in our Treasures in the Cadogan Gallery, it has been beautifully carved and polished to reveal the underlying mother of pearl. Although our shell is the only carving to bear the full signature of Dutch artist Johannes Belkien, the @vamuseum’s could well be another of Belkien’s works. 10 London museums have paired up on @instagram this week to connect over stories and themes. Our partner is the inspiring @vamuseum. Follow #MuseumInstaSwap to discover some uncanny links between collections across the city. #vamuseum #vamcollections #VandA #EuropeGalleries #Nautilus #shell #silver #motherofpearl #cephalopod #NaturalHistory #NHM #Museum

The Royal Museums Greenwich are getting excited over the Horniman's Totem Pole.

Our first #MuseumInstaSwap from @hornimanmuseumgardens is their fab totem pole. Much of our North American material relates to the search for the #northwestpassage but this beauty was London's first Alaskan totem pole, carved in 1985.

A photo posted by Royal Museums Greenwich (@royalmuseumsgreenwich) on Aug 24, 2015 at 5:41am PDT

The British Museum has been learning about its own history at the Imperial War Museum.

 

We’re behind the scenes in the art department at @imperialwarmuseums, getting a glimpse of what the British Museum looked like during the First World War, as part of #MuseumInstaSwap. This beautiful work is by war artist Henry Rushbury, who was 25 when war broke out. Having studied at the Birmingham College of Art, specialising in stained glass design and mural decoration, during the war he served as an aircraft mechanic with the RAF and earned the rank of Sergeant. In 1918 he was invited by the Ministry of Information to become an official war artist, sent out to depict scenes of life in London. He produced a series of drawings of the British Museum, showing the ‘sand-bagging’ of antiquities as a defence against German air raids. In this scene three sculptures in the Egyptian gallery have been surrounded by sandbags – Rushbury has labelled them as Amenhotep I, Amenhotep III and the goddess Sekhet. © IWM (Art.IWM ART 1140)

A photo posted by British Museum (@britishmuseum) on Aug 24, 2015 at 3:40am PDT

The museums relate to each other's history through a unique viewpoint with incredible behind-the-scenes detail.

 

This photograph shows one of the new homes for @britishmuseum during #WW2. Towards the end of August 1939, when war seemed inevitable, the first container vans were sent to the Museum to start packing up items. In the late evening of Wednesday 23 August the Home Office gave the order to move. Staff were warned and packing and despatch began at seven the next morning. All easily movable material, considered of first importance, including the whole collection of coins and medals, was sent away by noon on the following Saturday. Packing and despatch of 100 tons of library material of secondary importance, together with prints and drawings, went on for another week. #MuseumInstaSwap

A photo posted by Imperial War Museums (@imperialwarmuseums) on Aug 24, 2015 at 6:04am PDT

Meanwhile the Wellcome Collection is getting pretty deep at the London Transport Museum. Typical.

 

10 London museums have paired up on @instagram this week to connect over stories and themes. Our partner is the dynamic @ltmuseum. Maps of London in the @ltmuseum like this one remind us of a brain, both in terms of the aesthetic and the network of channels that allows the city/brain to function. Cities and brains are organised in similar ways: in the same way evolution has shaped the brain, we have shaped our cities, increasing organisation and efficiency. As they grow larger, both cities and brains become more densely interconnected in order to function. Follow #MuseumInstaSwap to discover some uncanny links between collections across the city. Click the link in our profile to find out more. #museum #InstaMuseum #art #science #brain #map #anatomy #connection #network #city

A photo posted by Wellcome Collection (@wellcomecollection) on Aug 24, 2015 at 6:20am PDT

Follow the action all this week using #MuseumInstaSwap.

For more of London's best museums, take a look at our list of the top ten in the capital.