Where Is The National Portrait Gallery Located In London?

The National Portrait Gallery is located in St Martin's Place, just off Trafalgar Square. The building was opened in 1856, and houses a permanent collection of portraits of historical British figures.

The items in the permanent collection are selected depending on the perceived historical importance of their subject. Thus the artistic quality of some of the pieces is not as high as one might expect, but the gallery does play host to many paintings which are important not as pieces of art but as historical documents. The building itself was extended in 2000 when the Ondaatje Wing was built. This section of the building runs between the two original halves of the Portrait Gallery, and includes a huge escalator which has become one of the building's defining characteristics.

The gallery also hosts temporary exhibitions which concentrate on contemporary portraiture, and is the venue for the annual BP Portraiture Prize.