London

The British Museum is an absolute must for all people interested in archaeology and antiques, be it British, European or Middle Eastern. It's a veritable treasurehouse of artefacts and a centre of learning (with a library accessible to scholars). The collections include all that has been brought back home to Blighty by the explorers/scientists/looters of the imperial era, from the famous and controversial Elgin Marbles to many Egyptian mummies to absolutely fantastic Assyrian/Babylonian exhibits. The British section is also very impressive with exhibits like Sutton Hoo hoard and similar. There is also lots of specialist-interest exhibits including a lot of smaller items like clocks and watches, jewellery, every day objects.

The architecture is truly impressive too, with a common (non-gallery) space of the great courtyard covered by glass canopy, and monumental entrance with rather interesting sculptures in its front.

There is a large shop and an (as usual expensive) cafe.

The highlights for a casual visitor can be done in one afternoon/morning; but if you want to really explore I suggest you go few times for couple of hours to better take it all in.

My personal favourite is definitely the Mesopotamian section with winged bulls and fantastic reliefs, all very well displayed.

The best thing is, it's all FREE!!!! (like all big national-class museums in London).