The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in some ...

Museum (founded in 1826) and of the London Museum (founded in 1912). From 1976 to 4 December 2022 its main site was located in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

on the

London Wall The London Wall was a defensive wall first built by the Romans around the strategically important port town of Londinium in AD 200, and is now the name of a modern street in the City of London. It has origins as an initial mound wall and ...

, close to the Barbican Centre, as part of the Barbican complex of buildings created in the 1960s and 1970s to redevelop a bomb-damaged area of the city. The museum has the largest urban history collection in the world, with more than six million objects. That site was a few minutes' walk north of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...

, overlooking the remains of the Roman city wall and on the edge of the oldest part of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, now its main financial district. It is primarily concerned with the social history of London and its inhabitants throughout time. The museum is jointly controlled and funded by the City of London Corporation and the Greater London Authority. In March 2015, the museum revealed plans to move to the General Market Building at the nearby Smithfield site. Reasons for the proposed move included the claim that the current site was difficult for visitors to find, and that by expanding, from 17,000 square metres to 27,000, a greater proportion of the Museum's collection could be placed on display. The cost of the move was estimated to be in the region of £70 million and, if funding could be achieved, the estimated completion date was 2021. It was later discovered that the building project would be more complex than first thought, and the deadline for opening was pushed back to 2024. The move is contingent upon raising an estimated £70 million, with Museum of London Docklands remaining open in the interim. Early in 2022, it was announced that the museum would close on its existing site at the end of that year and reopen in 2026 at Smithfield Market as the London Museum. Plans for the vacated Barbican site include the Centre for Music, a permanent home for the London Symphony Orchestra.

1976-2022

The amalgamation of the two collections was agreed in 1964. The Museum of London Act, allowing for the merger, was passed in the following year. The museum was opened in December 1976 as part of the Barbican Estate. The architects were Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, who adopted an innovative approach to museum design, whereby the galleries were laid out so that there was only one route through the museum – from the prehistoric period to the modern galleries. The museum's displays there comprised a series of chronological galleries containing original artefacts, models, pictures and diagrams, with a strong emphasis on archaeological discoveries, the built city, urban development and London's social and cultural life, with interactive displays and activities for all ages. Fragments of the Roman

could be seen just outside the museum. Lord Mayors Coach (6266582740)

A £20 million redevelopment was completed in May 2010, its biggest investment since opening in 1976. The re-design, by London-based architects Wilkinson Eyre, told the story of London and Londoners chronologically from the Great Fire of 1666 to the present day. The transformation included four new galleries, including the new City Gallery featuring large street level windows along

and providing an illuminated showcase for the Lord Mayor's State Coach, which takes to the streets each November for the Lord Mayor's Show. The Galleries of Modern London increased the museum's exhibition space by 25 percent and enabled the display of 7,000 objects. Star exhibits included a reconstruction of Georgian pleasure gardens, the foreboding wooden interior of the Wellclose debtors' prison cell, an art deco lift from Selfridges department store and the puppet stars of BBC children's TV

Andy Pandy ''Andy Pandy'' is a British children's television series that first appeared on BBC Television in summer 1950. Originally live, a series of 26 filmed programmes was shown until 1970, when a new series of 13 episodes was made. A revival of the s ...

and Bill and Ben. The "Expanding City" gallery covered the period 1660s to 1850. "People's City" addresses 1850 to 1940s, including a " Victorian Walk" with recreated shops and public buildings, and sections on the West End,

Suffragettes A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to member ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, and everyday life. The new galleries placed a renewed emphasis on contemporary London and contemporary collecting. "World City" was the gallery which tells London's story from 1950 to the present day, with a focus on fashion, from formal suits of the 1950s, through the Mary Quant dress of the swinging 1960s, hippy chic in the 1970s and the bondage trousers and ripped T-shirts of the punk era and finally right up to a pashmina from Alexander McQueen's 2008 collection. The Sackler Hall contained an elliptical LED curtain where the work of up-and-coming young filmmakers was screened in a bi-annual Museum of London Film Commission, in association with

Film London Film London is London's film and media agency – sustaining, promoting and developing London as a major international film-making and film cultural capital. This includes all the screen industries based in London – film, television, video ...

. A temporary exhibition space, "Inspiring London", featured a changing programme of displays on the theme of creativity and inspiration.

Museum of London Docklands

In 2003, the Museum of London Docklands (formerly Museum in Docklands) was opened in a 19th-century grade I listed warehouse near

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lon ...

on the

Isle of Dogs The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Ha ...

. The Museum of London Docklands charts the history of London as a port, beginning 2,000 years ago with the Roman trading post set up on the banks of the Thames and following London's expansion into the biggest port the world had ever known. In November 2007, it opened the capital's first permanent gallery examining London's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, "London, Sugar & Slavery".

Museum of London Archaeology

Once part of the Museum of London, Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) became an independent charity in November 2011, regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales. MOLA now has its own Board of Trustees but the Museum of London and MOLA continue to work together. MOLA employs around 190 archaeologists working on most of the major archaeological sites in London. Independence gives MOLA a stronger remit; it streamlines operations, reduces duplication and cuts red tape. Originally, MOLA was a much smaller department within the Museum of London but it expanded hugely – and outgrew its parent organisation. Independence gives MOLA the freedom to operate and to explore new markets across the country and overseas. The Museum of London and MOLA retain close links via a partnership arrangement set out in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This is to the clear benefit of both organisations and includes key areas of collaboration – on initiatives such as educational outreach, fundraising and public relations. MOLA will continue to have its headquarters at Mortimer Wheeler House (in Shoreditch) and share specialist expertise and equipment with Museum of London colleagues at London Wall.

Structure

The Museum of London and Museum of London Docklands are part of the same group. Since 1 April 2008, the Museum has been jointly controlled and funded by the City of London Corporation and the Greater London Authority. Prior to this the Museum had been jointly controlled by the City of London and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is headed by a director.

List of directors

* 1965–1970: Donald Harden (acting) * 1972–1977:

Tom Hume Thomas Hubert Hume (born March 29, 1953) is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies, from to . Hume was drafted by the Reds with the 16th pick ...

* 1977–1997: Max Hebditch * 1997–2002: Simon Thurley * 2002 to 2012: Jack Lohman * September 2012 – present: Sharon Ament

Images

References

External links

Official website of the Museum of LondonMuseum of London DocklandsMuseum of London
within Google Arts & Culture * {{DEFAULTSORT:Museum Of London 1976 establishments in England

Archaeological museums in London History of the City of London Local government in London Museums of ancient Rome in the United Kingdom History museums in London Exempt charities Charities based in London Museums in the City of London

Museum of London Group Barbican Estate