Open season for art lovers

A flood of museum and gallery openings this autumn promises to offer Londoners a rare picture of the nation's artistic heritage.

Unveiled at today's British Art Season launch, will be opening details for multi-million-pound developments at Tate Britain and the Victoria and Albert Museum as well the new Handel Museum and the Museum of London's new World City gallery.

The idea for the season stemmed from the need for the V&A and Tate Britain to co-ordinate openings which occur within three weeks of each other, and it grew from there.

Tate Britain unveils its £32million centenary development on 1 November. It will increase display space by 35 per cent allowing many important works to be brought out of store.

Three weeks later, on 22 November, the V&A will open its 15 new British galleries, at a cost of £31million, which will tell the story of the nation's designers from 1500 to 1900.

On 8 November comes the turn of the Handel House Museum in Mayfair, the first devoted to a composer in London. It will occupy the home where he lived from 1723-1759 and composed most of his music, including Music for the Royal Fireworks.

A month later sees the unveiling of the £2 million World City Gallery at the Museum of London, which will set the tone for the redevelopment of the rest of the museum over the next five years. The gallery will illustrate one of the most dominant periods in capital's history, from 1789 to 1914.

Elsewhere special exhibitions will include a Frank Auerbach retrospective at the Royal Academy, sculptures by Tony Cragg at Somerset House, Restoration portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery, Matthew Smith at Guildhall Art Gallery, paper money at the British Museum, John Galliano at the Design Museum and furniture after the Great Fire at the Geffrye Museum.

Conscious of the problems afflicting the tourist industry, Culture Minister Alan Howarth welcomed the season with the hope it would be "a hit with domestic and overseas visitors alike".