The Famous Museum of London
– Urban Archaeology

The famous Museum of London is a treasure located close to the Barbican Centre and was opened in 1976.

It is a museum of urban history chronicling the life and times of the city and its people from its prehistoric beginnings to the modern day.

The museum also encompasses the Museum of London Docklands, which tells the tale of the 2000 year history of the port of London with a permanent collection detailing the story of the city’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.

The Museum of London Archaeology is a branch of the museum that offers commercial archaeological services as well as doing its own research and maintaining extensive archives.

The prehistoric area at the Museum is called London before London and tells the story of the early Thames valley people.

There is a skeleton on display in the collection that is more than 5000 years old.

Roman London is a large collection of craft tools, glassware, and pottery.

There are reconstructed rooms and models that show how the people in those times lived and excavated architectural gems like the marble sculptures from the Temple of Mithras.

Medieval London chronicles a 1000 year period in the life of the city, with collections of brooches, clothing, and other articles of everyday life that really help bring the history alive.

The exhibit called “London’s Burning” tells the story of the Great London Fire of 1666, and is arguably the best telling of this tale, and certainly one of the most popular exhibits at the museum.

Stories from survivors, archaeological finds, interactive displays, and 17th century fire fighting equipment help us to understand just how tragic and widespread the devastation was, as well as the tremendous impact the Great Fire had on London and its residents.

The famous Museum of London is a museum every visitor to the city should experience, for it is impossible to begin to understand the complexity that is London without having at least a passing knowledge of her special place in history.