An Escape Room Has Opened Up at Buckingham Palace & the Theme Is Brilliant

Gather three to seven of your friends, book a flight to London and channel your inner sleuth because the Escape Room to end all Escape Rooms has opened inside Buckingham Palace. That’s right, The Queen’s Gallery is hosting an Escape Room called “Leonardo Artmergency!” now through early October.

The mission of “Leonardo Artmergency!” is to solve the mystery of the missing curator within one hour, and doing so requires groups to “think like a Renaissance genius to unlock the mysteries in Leonardo’s drawings,” according to the event description posted on the Royal Collection Trust’s (RCT) website. Through careful observation, creative thinking and detective work, teams must solve all the puzzles and riddles found within four rooms in the transformed Queen’s Gallery. 

Know nothing about Leonardo da Vinci’s artwork? No problem. “Everything you need to complete your mission is contained inside the game,” the website states.

“Leonardo Artmergency!” began June 14 and takes place all summer long, through Oct. 5. Tickets are £150 or $189.99, per team of four to eight. Don’t even think about bringing along children, though, as the activity is only open to people ages 14 and older.

The Escape Room coincides with an exhibition called “Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing,” which will also open in The Queen’s Gallery. The exhibition will feature a display of 200 of da Vinci’s original drawings in honor of the 500th anniversary of the death of da Vinci (he died in May 1519); and according to RCT, this is the largest exhibition of Leonardo’s work in over 65 years. 

All the while, Buckingham Palace is currently undergoing a $500-million renovation, according to Travel + Leisure. The extensive renovation is expected to be completed 2027.

Recently, @RCT have removed all objects from #BuckinghamPalace’s East Wing, including over 3,000 works of art.
Shown here is the Principal Corridor, home to the Centre Room, which leads onto the historic balcony – used by the Royal Family on national occasions. pic.twitter.com/OdfH4uXcK9

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) May 10, 2019

Back in May, the royal family tweeted a photo of the stripped down East Wing of the Palace, where over 3,000 works of art were pulled from the walls and removed from the property.