10 things you might not know about the National Gallery, London

Unlike similar museums in Europe, the National Gallery was not formed by nationalising an existing royal art collection. It all began when the British government bought 38 paintings from the art collection of the London financier John Julius Angerstein in 1824.

Situated in the heart of London, the National Gallery overlooks the famous Trafalgar Square. However, its first home was actually a few hundred yards away at 100 Pall Mall. When the Gallery first opened to the public in 1824, fewer than ten staff worked in the building.

Before the new National Gallery building was constructed in the 1830s, the same site had previously housed some rather interesting residents. For around 100 years, the King's mews (stables) had occupied the site and for a short period of time even a menagerie (a zoo).

The National Gallery building was designed by architect William Wilkins in the 1830s. His designs were inspired by the Neoclassical style of ancient Greek architecture. Fun fact: some of the marble sculptures on the exterior of the building were initially made for Marble Arch.

The National Gallery has been home to one of Van Gogh's iconic paintings of 'Sunflowers' since 1924, but did you know that Van Gogh actually visited the National Gallery during his lifetime?

To keep the nation's paintings safe during the Second World War, the collection was evacuated out of London for safekeeping. Later, the paintings were taken to a secure location in a Welsh slate mine. The conditions were perfect, and the artworks stayed there from 1941 until the end of the war.

Our Scientific Department has existed since 1934, when physicist Ian Rawlins was appointed as the Gallery's first Scientific Adviser. Today, scientists at the Gallery use imaging techniques to examine paintings which were first developed by NASA to study the surface of planets.

The National Gallery's collection spans from the 13th century to the work of the French Impressionists. This painting, by Margarito d'Arezzo, is one of the earliest paintings in the collection. It was made probably about 1263-4 – making it over 700 years old!