Day 6 - Museum of London

Today we went to visit the Museum of London, located near the Barbican Center where we were yesterday. Our guide for the tour was Senior Curator, Joe Cotton. Before we went through the exhibits, Mr. Cotton gave an introduction about the history of the museum and how he is trying to change the general public's view of pre-history.

The museum was opened in 1976 and is a combined collection of the Old Guild Hall of London and the London Museum. The Museum of London has three sites dedicated to the early history of London, including the Museum of London Docklands, which tells the story of London as a port since Roman occupation. The early history of London up until 1550 is exhibited in the museum, though a new £20 million gallery is underway to exhibit the later history of the city. Approximately 400,000 visitors view the museums exhibits a year, so the interest in the city's history is not lacking.

Mr. Cotton stated that people have preconceived notion of what pre-history was like and presented a slide show to help us understand how to go about changing that. He is working to change people's view of the pre-historical time by getting people to:

• Think of pre-historical individuals as individuals


• Think about the power of place

"They're not peoples, they're people," Mr. Cotton told us. When thinking about the power of place, he pointed out that people still feel passionately about ancient sites, which is no different than pre-historical times. For example, the summer solstice gathering at Stonehenge and the river Thames is a key element to landscape, both pre-historic and modern.

I thought Mr. Cotton's introduction was very interesting and informative. When he was finished, I wanted him to keep going. We were able to view the museum on our own, taking the time to explore. The first exhibit was the pre-historical era. I found it a very enlightening view into the lives of the pre-historic people. Thoughout the whole museum, interactive panels helped to engage the patron in learning about the time period. The next exhibit was Roman occupation, followed by a Medieval exhibit and then an Elizabethan exhibit.

The exhibit I enjoyed most was the Medieval exhibit. It had a lot of interesting artifacts and information, including an interactive language box with samples of Old English, Old Norse, Hebrew, and Latin languages. The Elizabethan exhibit displayed beautiful pieces of jewelry from the time period and recreations of living quarters.

For lunch, we went to a cafe in the Barbican Center and while in line a lady asked me about how the food was served, whether we served ourselves or if someone served us, and then said, "You know more than I do and you're American." I didn't know whether to be offended by that, but I couldn't help but laugh.

Until next time.

Photo from www.e-architect.co.uk