I have now been to the Museum of London twice, once alone and once with Joey and Matt. Both times, I learned interesting things, and I feel like I have a little better understanding of the history of London.
When walking into the museum, there are award winning photos which adorn the walkway. They were stunning photos and captured the essence of the United Kingdom and the world. Going into the museum, we started with the artifacts of the pre-Roman era. It is hard for me to comprehend that people have literally lived where I am sitting for thousands of years. I was really interested in what London looked like before all the building and roads were introduced, and the museum gave me a brief look into that.
As we moved through history, something that caught my eye was the mosaic that was featured after the Romans had come to London. I cannot wrap my head around the idea of ancient people making intricate pieces of artwork out of shards of rock. To me, it seems like it would take years to complete and not worth the hassle. They are beautiful and well built, being that some have survived to this day.
Seeing the old wall of London wasn't a big deal for me until I saw the Tower of London. It really put the old wall into perspective. This wall literally kept the city safe from invaders for many years. The wall provided security and protection for Londoners. Amazingly though, it fell into disuse and eventually became obsolete.
I wish that they would have talked about the Plague in London more. There was a short video of it, but I was hoping they would go more in depth. Something they did talk about brilliantly though was the Fire of London. It started out with paintings, which I overlooked the first time but focused on more in my second trip. The art work was interesting because some showed the fire and the complete and utter destruction it caused while others showed how people were trying to fight the flames, and it gave the situation a more human feel. After the paintings was an old fire cap that would have been worn by the fire brigade. It was so heavy and cumbersome but I expect that it did save the workers necks from hot ash. The display ended with a video explaining about the fire. It was quite interesting because there was a display that showed how the fire spread. I was shocked to hear that the stone of St. Paul's exploded and the roof melted because the heat was so intense.
Finally, they had a display set up like old London, with shops that you could walk or look into. I enjoyed this because it reminded me of stereotypical 18th century London: a banker with scales on his desk, a hat maker, a tobacconist, and of course a tailor advertising the latest fashions. I enjoy these kinds of things because it takes you back to a different time of living. A simpler time where people had one trade and they were the only one of that trade, not like today where people are multifaceted and must deal with other small business competition as well as bigger companies.
Overall, I thought that the Museum of London was great experience. My first perception was that it was small, but that is not the case at all. One just needs to divulge themselves into it and truly examine the artifacts. I will most likely visit the museum once more before I leave.
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