Freddie Mercury Museum
Freddie Mercury Museum
Stone Town, Zanzibar · Open daily · check hours before you go
His childhood in Stone Town, his school years in India and the photographs Queen Productions lent when it opened in 2019.
See the museumTonight · 1970s–80s · Stone Town · London · Montreux
Freddie Mercury & Queen
Follow-spot: Freddie Mercury, voice and piano. Press another player.
The four of them in 1977, lit from the front of house. At Rockfield they sang over the same tape until you could see light through it. Build them up the same way, layer on layer.
Shangani, Stone Town · Feltham, 1964
Farrokh Bulsara
takes a new name.
Seven letters each way. Turn them.
The Freddie Mercury Museum, Stone Town
He was born in Shangani, the old quarter of Stone Town, and spent his early years there.
The Freddie Mercury Museum opened here on 24 November 2019, with photographs lent by Queen Productions. It tells his childhood in Zanzibar, his schooling in Panchgani in India and his Zoroastrian roots.
After the revolution of 1964 his family left Zanzibar and settled in Feltham, west London, that November.
Kenyatta Road, Shangani. A small museum in the old town. It was open daily from 9am to 8pm in 2025: check before you go.
Liner notes
London, 1966–1974
Second-hand clothes,
first-hand gigs.
Freddie sold clothes and his own drawings from a market stall. Slide along his rail: four London hangers, from art school to the Rainbow.
49–53 Kensington High Street · 1969
Kensington Market
From the summer of 1969 Freddie ran a stall here, selling his own artwork and second-hand clothes; Roger Taylor helped.
He kept the stall going after Queen’s first album came out.
The market opened on 15 September 1967 and closed on 29 January 2000; the building came down in 2001.
The building is gone. The site is on the north side of Kensington High Street, near Kensington Church Street: free to walk past.
Liner notes
Rockfield, Monmouthshire · from 24 August 1975
Sing it again.
And again.
They sang their parts for 10 to 12 hours a day, three days running: 180 separate vocal overdubs.
A clean reel. Press Overdub.
On 24 August 1975 Queen began recording “Bohemian Rhapsody” here. Brian May remembered holding the tape up to a light and seeing through it.
In July 1974 they had cut backing tracks here for Sheer Heart Attack, “Killer Queen” among them. Charles and Kingsley Ward built it on their family farm: the world’s first residential recording studio.
A working studio on a private farm. Guided tours are by arrangement with the studio, and you can rent the Coach House to stay.
Liner notes
Rockfield Leisure
The Coach House at Rockfield
Rockfield, Monmouthshire
Self-catering holiday accommodation at the studio farm where “Bohemian Rhapsody” was begun: seven bedroom suites, for up to 16 people. Pictured: the old stable block.
Check availability
Hyde Park · Saturday 18 September 1976
150,000 people.
Free.
On Saturday 18 September 1976 Queen played a free concert here to at least 150,000 people.
Richard Branson arranged it as a thank-you to Queen’s British fans. Brian May called it one of the most significant gigs of their career.
The show is running over.
A public park, free to walk in. The Serpentine is the long lake across its middle.
Liner notes
Wembley · 13 July 1985
Twenty-one minutes.
6.41pm to 7.02pm.
The crowd is waiting.
During “Radio Ga Ga” Freddie led the whole stadium in an improvised call and response.
Queen’s Live Aid set began at 6.41pm on 13 July 1985 and lasted 21 minutes, in front of 72,000 people.
About 1.9 billion people in 130 countries watched on television.
12 July 1986
On 12 July 1986 Queen played Wembley again on the Magic Tour: 26 concerts for more than a million people, his last tour.
The stadium has been rebuilt on the same ground. Stadium tours and VIP tours are booked online; check the dates around events.
Liner notes
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium Tour
Wembley, London
Behind the scenes at the rebuilt stadium, into the areas kept for the biggest names in sport and music; a VIP tour goes further.
Book a tour1 Logan Place, Kensington · private
A house
behind a wall.
0 of 4 notes lifted.
Liner notes
Mountain Studios, Montreux · 1978–1993
Bring them up.
All four.
Mountain Studios was in the Casino. Queen first recorded there in 1978, bought it a year later and kept it until early 1993.
In his final months Freddie recorded his very last vocals here; the exhibition keeps the control room, the microphone and his chair.
Mix: Freddie 20 · Brian 20 · Roger 20 · John 20
Brian May and Roger Taylor opened the exhibition on 2 December 2013, for the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the HIV/AIDS charity in his name. Inside: handwritten lyrics, instruments, costumes, tape boxes, and a desk where you can mix Queen yourself.
Free, open daily 9am to 9pm, through the Casino’s Rue du Théâtre side.
Liner notes
Casino Barrière Montreux
Queen: The Studio Experience
Montreux · Free · daily 9am–9pm
The Mountain Studios control room, his microphone and chair, lyrics, instruments and costumes, and a desk where you mix Queen yourself. Donations go to the Mercury Phoenix Trust.
Plan a visit
Quai de la Rouvenaz · 1996
Fist up,
facing the lake.
Irena Sedlecká’s three-metre bronze was unveiled in 1996 on the lakeside promenade. It shows him in his pose from Wembley in 1986: microphone in hand, fist raised, in the yellow military jacket.
Queen recorded seven albums in Montreux, among them Made in Heaven. Fans from all over the world leave flowers, letters and photos on the pedestal.
Free, open all year, on the car-free lakeside promenade.
Liner notes
Where it is now
10 places you can visit, in London, Montreux, Monmouthshire and Zanzibar. Garden Lodge and Ridge Farm are private and are not on the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Now the University of West London: a working campus. See it from St Mary’s Road.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The building is gone. The site is on the north side of Kensington High Street, near Kensington Church Street: free to walk past.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working students’ union, not open to the public. See the building from the street, a short walk from the Royal Albert Hall.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Now a church. See the front from Seven Sisters Road, by Finsbury Park station.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public park, free to walk in. The Serpentine is the long lake across its middle.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The stadium has been rebuilt on the same ground. Stadium tours and VIP tours are booked online; check the dates around events.
The University of West London on St Mary’s Road, Ealing, 2011. David Hawgood · CC BY-SA 2.0 St Mary’s Road, Ealing
Ealing Art College
He studied graphic design at Ealing College from 1966 to 1969.
Now the University of West London: a working campus. See it from St Mary’s Road.
Liner notes
Kensington High Street, 2024. Tillwehavefaces · CC BY-SA 4.0 49–53 Kensington High Street
Kensington Market
From the summer of 1969 Freddie ran a stall here, selling his own artwork and second-hand clothes; Roger Taylor helped.
The building is gone. The site is on the north side of Kensington High Street, near Kensington Church Street: free to walk past.
Liner notes
The Union Building of Imperial College, from Kensington Gore, 2020. Shadowssettle · CC BY-SA 4.0 Prince Consort Road, South Kensington
Imperial College Union
Queen played their first London concert in the Union hall here on 18 July 1970.
A working students’ union, not open to the public. See the building from the street, a short walk from the Royal Albert Hall.
Liner notes
The former Rainbow Theatre on Seven Sisters Road, 2017. Peyoman · CC BY-SA 4.0 232–238 Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park
The Rainbow Theatre
Queen headlined here on 31 March 1974, at the end of the Queen II tour, and on 19 and 20 November 1974 for Sheer Heart Attack.
Now a church. See the front from Seven Sisters Road, by Finsbury Park station.
Liner notes
The Serpentine in Hyde Park, 2018. Tristan Surtel · CC BY-SA 4.0 By the Serpentine, Hyde Park
Hyde Park
On Saturday 18 September 1976 Queen played a free concert here to at least 150,000 people.
A public park, free to walk in. The Serpentine is the long lake across its middle.
Liner notes
Wembley Stadium from Olympic Way, 2023: the new stadium stands on the old one’s site. Hullian111 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Wembley, north-west London
Wembley Stadium
Queen’s Live Aid set began at 6.41pm on 13 July 1985 and lasted 21 minutes, in front of 72,000 people.
The stadium has been rebuilt on the same ground. Stadium tours and VIP tours are booked online; check the dates around events.
Liner notes
Stay
Sleep on the farm.
The Coach House at Rockfield, where they started “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
Rockfield Leisure
The Coach House at Rockfield
Rockfield, Monmouthshire
Self-catering holiday accommodation at the studio farm where “Bohemian Rhapsody” was begun: seven bedroom suites, for up to 16 people. Pictured: the old stable block.
Check availabilityGo there
Montreux, Wembley, Stone Town.
The free Studio Experience in Montreux, the Wembley tour, the museum in Zanzibar, and London tours on the open market.
Casino Barrière Montreux
Queen: The Studio Experience
Montreux · Free · daily 9am–9pm
The Mountain Studios control room, his microphone and chair, lyrics, instruments and costumes, and a desk where you mix Queen yourself. Donations go to the Mercury Phoenix Trust.
Plan a visitWembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium Tour
Wembley, London
Behind the scenes at the rebuilt stadium, into the areas kept for the biggest names in sport and music; a VIP tour goes further.
Book a tourFreddie Mercury Museum
Freddie Mercury Museum
Stone Town, Zanzibar · Open daily · check hours before you go
His childhood in Stone Town, his school years in India and the photographs Queen Productions lent when it opened in 2019.
See the museum
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Queen and Freddie Mercury tours of London
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Take it home
A book and three records.
A biography, and the albums from Rockfield, Wembley and Montreux.
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Freddie Mercury: The Definitive Biography
Lesley-Ann Jones
His life, from Zanzibar to Garden Lodge.
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A Night at the Opera
Queen · LP, 1975
Begun at Rockfield in August 1975, with “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
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Live at Wembley ’86
Queen · 2LP, 1992
Queen at Wembley on the Magic Tour, July 1986.
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Made in Heaven
Queen · LP, 1995
Their last album, recorded in part at Mountain Studios in Montreux.
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Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Liner notes
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
12 of 12 places · 21 of 21 Moments
Freddie Mercury Museum
Kenyatta Road, Shangani, Stone Town, Zanzibar
Shangani
Farrokh Bulsara grows up in the old quarter of Stone Town.
Feltham
After the revolution the family leaves for England.
The museum
A museum to him opens in Stone Town.
Ealing Art College
St Mary’s Road, Ealing
Art school
He studies graphic design and meets May and Taylor through Smile.
Mercury
Fred Bulsara changes his name to Mercury.
Kensington Market
49–53 Kensington High Street
The stall
He sells his artwork and second-hand clothes; Roger Taylor helps.
Imperial College Union
Prince Consort Road, South Kensington
The first London gig
Queen play the Union hall at Imperial College.
The Rainbow Theatre
232–238 Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park
Made it
Queen headline the Rainbow, twice in one year.
Hyde Park
By the Serpentine, Hyde Park
No encore
A free concert for 150,000; the police pull the power.
Wembley Stadium
Wembley, north-west London
Twenty-one minutes
Live Aid: 72,000 in the stadium, 1.9 billion watching.
The Magic Tour
Wembley again, on his last tour.
Garden Lodge
1 Logan Place, Kensington
Garden Lodge
He buys a house behind a high wall in Kensington.
November 1991
He dies at Garden Lodge.
The door
The green door, covered in tributes, sells at auction.
Ridge Farm
Surrey
The barn
They write and rehearse A Night at the Opera.
Rockfield Studios
Rockfield, near Monmouth
Killer Queen
Backing tracks for Sheer Heart Attack, on the farm.
180 overdubs
They begin “Bohemian Rhapsody” and sing until the tape wears thin.
Queen: The Studio Experience
Casino Barrière, Rue du Théâtre 9, Montreux
Mountain Studios
Queen record in Montreux, then buy the studio.
Last vocals
In his final months he records his last vocal tracks in Montreux.
The studio opens
May and Taylor open the Studio Experience.
The Freddie Mercury statue
Place du Marché, on the lakeside, Montreux
The statue
Montreux puts him on the lakefront, fist raised.