The Museum of London has just been reopened after an extensive 20 million pound remodeling.  The museum documents the history of London from the prehistoric to the present day.  The museum is located close to the Barbican Center and a few minutes walk north of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and overlooking the remains of the Roman city wall and on the edge of the oldest part of London known as the City, now the financial district of the city.  The museum is mostly concerned with the social history of London and its people.

The museum comprises a series of chronological galleries containing original artifacts, models, pictures and diagrams, with a strong emphasis on archaeological discoveries, the built city and urban developmentintera–ctive displays and activities for all ages.  Fragments of the Roman London Wall can be seen just outside the museum.  The prehistoric gallery, LONDON BEFORE LONDON, and the MEDIEVAL LONDON gallery have been reogranized.  A new EXHIBITON ON THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON opened in 2007.

The new exhibitions allow for 7,000 objects to be on display.  THE LORD MAYOR’s carriage is on display.  THE WORLD CITY is the next gallery which tells London’s story from 1950 to the present day.    Let me highlight a few items which are of great interest to me.

1.  Queen Victoria’s robes used for the OPENING OF PARLIAMENT

2.  Charles Dicken’s chair.  Imagine the SEAT from which Charles Dickens wrote some of the most important novels of the English language.

3.  The whipping post from Newgate

4.  an 18th century doll house

5.  The Lord Mayor’s carriage

During the Christmas holidays, the only displays open to the public were the PREHISTORIC GALLERY and the ROMAN GALLERY.  Needless to say, I was very disappointed.

Well, now I can see Dickens’s chair from his desk, and the Lord Mayor’s Carriage, brought out once a year for the LORD MAYOR’S PARADE.

The MUSEUM OF LONDON is definitely on my next itinerary.

This is a MUST SEE museum, and I am eager to see the new exhibitions and 7000 items of interest.

Wonderful.

Thomas Moore

http://www.londonconnection.com