The Museum of London is relatively new I learned this from going there. The staff are very cordial. It's an impressive exhibit. It takes you from the prehistoric to the present and has artifacts to support the information. It puts things in perspective to get the long view. London (Londinium) had a long history before the advent of monarchs. I tend to think of monarchs and royalty going through much of London's history but it is really in the past 4 or 500 years that monarchs have ruled. It's late and that is my vague recollection at this time.
The museum is full of artifacts: carving tools and axes made by chipping fragments from stone to sharpen the edge, animal and human skulls, pottery shards. Interesting that they were able to excavate sites in and around London. I gather most of , this has occurred when buildings were torn down or bombed. The Romans ruled for a long time. And there was a period of several hundred years when the old Londinium lay vacant uninhabited.
In reflecting on the tour I realize the museum does not go into the long convoluted complex history of the monarchy. There is a timeline but it leaves these details to other venues about Eng land.
There is an impressive view through large windows of a remnant of the Roman wall that once encircled the city. This view comes just as the narrative gets to the time of the construction of the wall. Impressive. Actually what one sees through the window is later contruction shoring up the wall and remains of buildings' walls which backed up to the wall. I didn't have time to explore this further and hope I can return to get finer distinctions.
There is so much to say about what I saw today. I can't possibly say it all here. There is an exhibit of Victorian shops. They are equipped with furniture and accoutrements of the time. Tobacco, pawn, hairdresser, tailor, bank president, pharmacy, pub, fine china and glassware, children's shop.
Then were off to the early twentieth century. A model T. One of the original taxis. There was a section on women's suffrage with posters and newspaper articles from the time. There is a piece of cloth with the names of the suffragettes who were jailed and force fed embroidered on it.
An interesting part was the accounting of the civil rights movement in London. The 60's and 70's. Different from ours, of course. Equal pay for equal work was passed in the 70's. Our congress can't manage to pass that in present day---just a few days ago.
And, there were the displays of garments worn in the 60's and 70's and so forth. (As well as from earlier periods) Strange to see garments resembling ones I wore displayed as historical.
There was a room in which you could watch a video of photos and film of the blitz in WWII. Accompanying this were recorded accounts of individuals' experiences of the blitz. I am just having a hard time registering that there was so much destruction and horror in London at that time.
I could go on and on. So much I want to say. I don't remember the American Revolution's being mentioned. A blip on the screen of this long history. The final exhibit is of a gilded coach which was ordered by the mayor of London 300 years ago. It is used to this day. Made of carved and painted wood. The wheels are wood. It's painted gold and has murals on the side. A little girl's (boy's?) dream.
I took the tube back. Central line to Tottenham Court. Tottenham Court to Mornington Crescent. The central line trains were packed like sardines. No room for squeezing in. Finally the third train had room. I grocery shopped and walked home.
Ralph was very worried. He'd been calling and texting. Unless the ringer on my phone was turned down, I don't know what happened. Anyway, I made it.
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| Shameless selfie taken in the ladie's room of the museum at the end of the tour. |
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