The Museum of London

The Museum of London is located within the area of London Wall, nearby to the Barbican Centre. Its purpose is to document the history of British capital starting from prehistoric period to modern times. Especially, the social history of London and its inhabitants throughout time. The museum possesses the largest urban history collection in the world, with more than six million exhibits.

One of the best museums in London

The Museum of London was opened in December 1976 and was designed by two architects- Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya. It has been renovated in 2010 at the cost of 20 million pounds! Thanks to architect Wilkinson Eyre’s innovative approach, the museum is divided between galleries in chronological order, that contain various original artefacts, pictures, sculptures and models. The museum is concentrated on archaeological discoveries, cultural and social life, as well as urban development of London. Every section has an interactive display, which allows further investigation of the presented subjects. One of the permanent galleries, “Roman London” possesses a staggering amount of relicts from the time when London was a Roman settlement called Londinium. What is more, visitors have the chance to see fragments of the Roman London wall just outside the site. It also broadly describes the influence of Christianity, first churches and monasteries and their impact on pagan population.

London Wall next to The Museum of London

From Saxons to Windsors

Furthermore, the museum presents exciting facts about raids of many different ethnic groups such as Saxons, Celts, Normans – all of which, are splendidly illustrated and described. Galleries are constantly being updated and upgraded, for example the most frequent updates are “London before London” or the “Medieval London” gallery. Not everybody realizes that medieval London was destroyed by foreign invaders, disease, fire and torn apart by political and religious controversies. For those who are interested in topics of Great Fire of London or “English Civil War”, there is an amazing gallery titled “War, Plague and Fire”. New galleries such as “World City” concentrate on contemporary London and are telling the story of London from 1950 to present day. This and much more awaits visitors in the Museum of London.

See also National Maritime Museum.

The most interesting facts according to Connect-Click:

• In March 2015 the museum revealed plans to move the museum from Barbican to the General Market Building at the Smithfield site. Barbican site will become a permanent home to the London Symphony Orchestra.
• The Museum of London has a display of Lord Mayor’s Coach which is taken to the streets each November for the Lord Mayor’s Show.

Address: 150 London Wall, London EC2Y 5HN