British Museum (London): When Sir Hans Sloane died in 1753, he bequeathed to England his vast collection of art and antiquities for only £20,000 ($34,000). This formed the nucleus of the collection that would one day embrace everything from the Rosetta stone to the hotly contested Elgin marbles (Greece wants them back). It's all here -- and much more -- in one of the world's great museums.

National Gallery (London): One of the world's greatest collections of Western art dazzles the eye. Every artist from da Vinci to Rembrandt to Picasso is represented here. The gallery is especially rich in works by Renaissance artists.

Tate Britain (London): Two great national collections -- some 10,000 works -- call this gallery home. Sir Henry Tate, a sugar producer, started the nucleus of the collection with only 70 or so paintings. But the Tate has grown and was considerably enlarged when J. M. W. Turner bequeathed some 300 paintings and 19,000 watercolors to England on his death.

National Gallery of Scotland (Edinburgh): This museum boasts a small but choice collection whose presence in Edinburgh is firmly entwined with the city's self-image as Scotland's cultural capital (Glaswegians will happily dispute that idea). Highlights include works by Velázquez, Zurbarán, Verrocchio, del Sarto, and Cézanne.

National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh): In 1998, the collections of the Royal Museum of Scotland and the National Museum of Antiquities were united into a coherent whole. Here you'll find everything you ever wanted to know about Scotland, from prehistory to the Industrial Age, as represented by the unsparing views of life in the Saltmarket District of Glasgow. It's all here, from a milk bottle once carried by Sean Connery when he was a milkman to a rock that's 2.9 billion years old from the Isle of South Uist.

Burrell Collection (Glasgow): The contents of this collection were accumulated through the exclusive efforts of Sir William Burrell (1861-1958), an industrialist who devoted the last 50 years of his life to spending his fortune on art. Set in a postmodern building in a suburb of Glasgow, it's one of Scotland's most admired museums, with a strong focus on medieval art, 19th-century French paintings, and Chinese ceramics.

Hunterian Art Gallery (Glasgow): This museum owns much of the artistic estate of James McNeill Whistler, as well as a re-creation of the home of Scotland's most famous designer, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Grand oils are on display, including works by Whistler, Rubens, and Rembrandt, as well as one of the country's best collections of 19th-century Scottish paintings.

National Museum of Wales (Cardiff): At this museum, the country's finest, you are carried through the panorama of the history of this little country from prehistoric times until the present. There are a lot of surprises along the way -- for example, its collection of 18th-century porcelain is one of the finest in the world.

Nov 30 St Andrew's Day, celebrating Scotland's patron saint.

Dec 31 Tar Barrels Parade, Allendale Town, Northumberland.