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We’re getting closer and closer to the long-awaited opening date of the London Museum. Formerly the Museum of London at London Wall, the venue will fling open the doors of its new site in Smithfield at the end of November. As the big day approaches, the museum has been drip-feeding us with more information on what to expect. And today (October 5), it has announced the debut exhibition inside its underground vaults.
The vaults were rediscovered back in 2019 during the huge renovation of Smithfield’s Victorian General Market. Builders broke through a wall and found the 800sqm network, which is thought to have been used as storage space by the market and the nearby railway. Now, the network has been turned into a space for experiences, displays and events and will host its very first show next year.
Londinium: the Making of a Roman City will open in spring 2027, shedding light on Roman London and the people that called it home. Previously unseen objects from the Bloomberg Collection of Roman Artefacts will be on display throughout the subterranean space, telling the story of the capital’s first inhabitants and how it grew as a major administrative and trading post. They’ll be supported by projection and spatial soundscapes created by Journey, the design agency that created immersive venue Lightroom and worked on the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.
Through the artefacts and technology, visitors will be immersed in imagined ‘petty arguments, whispered gossip and business dealings’ of the very first Londoners, based on archaeological evidence. You’ll see examples of Britain’s most important collection of Roman wax writing tablets, a child’s feeding bottle, a coin from the reign of the Emperor Nero and Britain’s earliest known example of Eurasian cockroach eggs, which was discovered inside a Roman bakery oven.
Jackie Keily, lead curator of the exhibition, said: ‘The Bloomberg Collection is an extraordinary discovery that has helped us build a picture of life in Roman London like never before. Protected by the waterlogged soil from which they were unearthed, this time capsule has preserved artefacts that would otherwise have been lost. From these objects, we can begin to picture the intimate and everyday experiences of Londinium’s ancient inhabitants. This was a time of loss, upheaval and hardship but also hope, opportunity and new beginnings.’
Londinium: the Making of a Roman City will be a free exhibition at London Museum and is due to open in spring 2027.
ICYMI: The 8 London museum exhibitions we’re most excited about this autumn.
Plus: I stayed at the Natural History Museum’s new dinosaur-themed family hotel suite.
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