Museums

Around London – Imperial War Museum’s WWI revamp; St Paul’s Christmas broadcasts; House Mill to be restored; Henry III’s rolls online; and, Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park

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• The Imperial War Museum has unveiled plans for a major rebuilding project at its Lambeth headquarters to culminate with the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I in 2014. Under a £71 million proposal, the size of the existing World War I galleries will be doubled and a new atrium will be created with further works – including a new sunken entrance – to be completed by 2019. The museum moved to its Lambeth location, formerly the Bethlem Royal Hospital, in 1936. Prince William is fronting the first £29 million appeal for funds. Meanwhile plans have reportedly been mooted to have the decommissioned aircraft carrier, the HMS Ark Royal, brought to London where it would be permanently moored in the Thames as a tourist attraction akin to the HMS Belfast.

• St Paul’s Cathedral has announced it will provide live outdoor broadcasts of its three most popular Christmas services for the first time to allow those who can fit in the cathedral to participate. A 25 metre screen will be set up in Paternoster Square, next to the cathedral, where ‘A Celebration of Christmas’ will be screen on 16th December at 6.30pm along with Christmas Carol services on the 23rd and 24th December at 4pm. See www.stpauls.co.uk.

• An historic 18th century mill in East London will undergo restoration after the granting of a £248,000 lottery grant. House Mill, which dates from 1776, is believed to be the largest tidal mill still in existence anywhere in the world. Built across the River Lea, the mill was used for flour-making and for a distillery located next door on Three Mills Island in Bow. The project, which is being managed by the River Lea Tidal Mill Trust, involves the restoration of the mill as well as the adjoining Miller’s House and the creation of a visitor’s centre. The trust says it has also been given the “green light” for a further £2.65 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant. See http://housemill.org.uk.

• A three year project has made documents drawn up for King Henry III in the 13th century available on the internet for the first time. Project partners Canterbury Christ Church University, King’s College London, and the National Archives in Kew have translated and digitised the king’s ‘fine rolls’, written to record money and favours owed to the king. The rolls consist of 56 parchments – one for each year of his reign which started in 1216 and ended in 1272 – and contain as many as 40,000 entries amounting to some two million words. Some of the parchments, the originals of which are held at the National Archives, measure up to three metres in length. See www.finerollshenry3.org.uk.

• On now: Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. Christmas festivity on a vast scale, Winter Wonderland includes the city’s largest open air ice rink, circus acts, a giant observation wheel, rides and eating places including the igloo-style E:Cube and the Spiegel Saloon. For more information see www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com.

Treasures of London – The Sutton Hoo ship burial

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Now housed in the British Museum (pictured), the artefacts discovered in a ship burial at Sutton Hoo near Woodbridge in Suffolk helped to shed new light on what life was like in Anglo-Saxon society.

The excavation at the Sutton Hoo site was carried out in 1939, just before World War II.  The finds were impressive and centred on a 27 metre long oak ship in the midst of which was constructed a burial chamber for a man of some significance along with his possessions.

The latter included his armour (the centrepiece of which is the spectacular and painstakingly reconstructed Sutton Hoo helmet complete with face mask), weapons such as a sword and spears, silverware and silver-mounted drinking horns and cups, clothes and other assorted items of wealth, including a purse with a ‘lid’ containing, among other things, Merovingian gold coins struck believed to have been struck between 595 and 640 AD.

While the remains found date to around the early seventh century, the man’s exact identity remains something of a mystery. But it is possible he may have been one of four Anglo-Saxon kings known to have been buried in the area.

WHERE: Room 41 at the British Museum, Great Russell Street (nearest tube is Tottenham Court Road, Holborn or Russell Square); WHEN: 10.30am-5.3opm daily; COST: Entry to the museum is free; WEBSITE: www.britishmuseum.org. (For more information on visiting the Sutton Hoo site in Suffolk, visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-suttonhoo)

Roman London – 2. The Temple of Mithras

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Also known as the Mithraeum, the remains of the Temple of Mithras were only discovered in the City during building work in 1954.

The temple was originally located some 18 feet (5.4 metres) below Walbrook Street on the bank of what was Walbrook but was moved to its current location at the eastern end, and south side, of Queen Victoria Street. It is presently again surrounded by building work hoardings so you’ll have to ignore those if you’re trying to soak up some ancient atmosphere.

The temple was built around 240 AD and remained in use until around 350AD when, after it suffered severe subsidence, it was rebuilt and dedicated to the god Bacchus. The original stone temple was dedicated to Mithras, a Persian sun deity and a particular favorite of Roman soldiers, and perhaps to several other gods as well.

These days all that remains are foundations, but you can see the basic layout with a sunken nave – which would have had benches on either side – leading to an altar, remains of which are at the northern end of the site.

Numerous artefacts have been found at the temple site, including a head of Mithras, a sculpture showing a scene of Mithras killing a bull (he apparently did so in a cave so  Mithraeum were built partly or even totally underground), and heads of the Roman gods Minerva and Serapis, all of which can be seen at the Museum of London.

WHERE: Queen Victoria Street (nearest tube station is Bank); WHEN: Open to the public at all times; COST: Free. WEBSITE: The Museum of London’s website has some good information on the temple, http://bit.ly/hzsBrW

Around London – West End’s VIP day; National Curry Week; Kenwood House to close for repairs; and Horatio’s handwriting…

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• Oxford Street and Regent Street in London’s West End will be closed to cars and buses this Saturday (27th November) as part of the sixth annual West End VIP Day. The day, which is sponsored by American Express,  will also bring singers, entertainers and celebrities hit the streets as they fundraise for the Starlight Children’s Foundation. Other entertainment will include a seven foot climbing wall on Regent Street, giant TV screens, fair ground style rides and the chance to climb inside a lifesize snow globe. Runs from 9am to 10pm. For more information, see www.westendlondon.com/vip.

• This week was National Curry Week, so to celebrate, we thought we’d tell you about London’s oldest curryhouse (in fact it’s said to be the oldest in the UK). Veeraswamy was founded in 1926 at its current location of 99 Regent Street (entry via Swallow Street) by, according to the restaurant’s website, “the great grandson of an English General, and an Indian princess”. Customers are said to have included Indira Gandhi, Charlie Chaplin, King Hussein of Jordan and Marlon Brando. See www.nationaleatingoutweek.com or www.veeraswamy.com.

• Kenwood House in Hampstead, north London, is set to undergo major repair and conservation works meaning the house will be closed to the public from early summer 2012 for just over a year. The grounds will remain open. The current house was designed by Robert Adam and built over the period of 1762 to 1779 for William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield and the Lord Chief Justice. It now houses a collection of paintings bequeathed to the nation in 1927 by Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, which includes works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Gainsborough and Turner. For more information, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/kenwood-house/.

• On now: Compare Horatio Nelson’s handwriting before and after he lost his right arm in battle at a special showing of two of his letters at the Wellcome Collection tomorrow night (26th November). The letters are part of Hands: Amazing Appendages, a one night only show. There will also be the chance to try out some nail art, try out some surgeon’s tools and hear talks and see performances. Admission is free (but some talks and performances will be tickets – tickets available on the night only from 7pm). See www.wellcomecollection.org/whats-on/events/hands.aspx.

 

Around London – New VC gallery at Imperial War Museum; Roman remains unearthed at Syon Park; and, High Society at the Wellcome Collection…

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• An exhibition containing the world’s largest collection of Victoria Crosses has opened at the Imperial War Museum, housed in what is the museum’s first new major permanent gallery for 10 years. The Extraordinary Heroes exhibition – housed in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery – contains his Lordship’s collection of 162 Victoria Crosses, awarded for parts played in wars stretching from the Crimean to the Falklands, displayed alongside the 48 Victoria Crosses and 31 George Crosses already held by the museum. As well as the awards, the new gallery will display many objects for the first time, including a badly damaged backpack worn by Lance Corporal Matt Croucher when he leapt on a grenade during action in Afghanistan in 2008 to save the lives of his fellow soldiers (he survived as well), and the diving suit worn by Acting Leading Seaman James Magennis who won a VC for his role in placing limpet mines in the Johore Straits in World War II. The gallery was paid for with a £5 million donation from Lord Ashcroft. Admission is free. For more information, see www.iwm.org.uk.

• The remains of a Roman settlement have been unearthed at historic home, Syon Park, in London’s west. Archaeological experts from the Museum of London have already removed around 11,500 pieces of pottery, jewellery and about 100 coins from the site on the Syon Park estate. Syon Park, the home of the Duke of Northumberland, sits on the northern bank of the Thames, opposite Kew Gardens. The site was excavated in 2008 in preparing for the construction of a new luxury hotel there. Some of the artefacts will go on display at the new hotel, the London Syon Park, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel, which will open early next year. The settlement, which includes a Roman road and burials, was discovered only half a metre below ground level. For more information on the property, see www.syonpark.co.uk.

• Now on: From an early morning coffee in European cities to chewing betel nut in Asia, the Wellcome Collection’s major winter exhibition, High Society, traces the role mind-altering drugs have played in history and culture. The display includes more than 200 exhibits, from an 11th century manuscript written by monks in Suffolk detailing poppy remedies, to a 17th century account by Captain Thomas Bowrey describing his crew’s experiments with the cannabis drink bhang, and an account of NASA’s experiments with intoxicated spiders. Admission is free. The exhibition runs until 27th February. For more information, see www.wellcomecollection.org.

Around London – Lord Mayor’s Show tomorrow; Book of the Dead at British Museum; and Evolving English at the British Library

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• The Lord Mayor’s Show is tomorrow. The world’s oldest civic procession, it’s been held for 795 years (the last time it was interrupted was due to the Duke of Wellington’s funeral) and commemorates the day when the newly elected Mayor had to make the journey from the City to Westminster to declare his allegiance to the monarch. This year’s Lord Mayor of the City of London – the City’s 683rd – is Alderman Michael Bear (not to be confused with the Mayor of London Boris Johnson). The procession kicks off at 11am and travels from Mansion House to St Paul’s Cathedral, where the Lord Mayor, who formally took office yesterday in a silent ceremony held at Guildhall, is blessed. The procession then moves on to the Royal Courts of Justice where the Lord Mayor swears an oath of allegiance before returning to Mansion House via Victoria Embankment. This year the procession will involve from than 6,000 people from livery companies, military units, marching bands, local schools and businesses and community groups as well as 200 vehicles, 21 carriages – including, of course, the Lord Mayor’s State Coach – and 71 floats. Don’t forget to hang around for the fireworks. For more about the event – where to stand and what you’ll be seeing, see www.lordmayorsshow.org.

PICTURE: Alderman Michael Bear on the occasion of his election as the 683rd Lord Mayor of London. Courtesy Lord Mayor’s Show.

•  Now On: The British Museum exhibition, Journey through the afterlife: ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, was launched last week. The exhibition centres on the museum’s collection of Book of the Dead papyri, many of which have never before been put on display to the public. They include the Greenfield Papyrus, which at 37 metres long is the longest Book of the Dead in the world and has never been displayed in its entirity before. The display also features famous paintings from the papyri of Ani and Hunefer and an array of painted coffins, gilded masks, amulets, jewellery, tomb figurines and mummy trappings. Runs until 6th March. For more information, including admission prices, see www.britishmuseum.org.

• Now On: A new exhibition exploring the development of the English language opens today at the British Library. Evolving English: One Language, Many Voices looks at how the language has evolved from Anglo-Saxon runes to modern day rap and where it’s headed next. Highlights of the exhibition include the first book printed in English, Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye (printed by William Caxton), a 1611 King James Bible, Poor Letter H – a pamphlet dating from 1854 explaining why pronouncing your h’s correctly is important to climbing the social ladder, and the earliest surviving copy of Beowulf. On until April 3rd. Admission is free. For more information, see www.bl.uk.

Favourite Places – The Museum of London’s Lynne Connell revisits Greenwich

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In the first of a new series looking at some of the favorite historical places of Londoners, Lynne Connell, a host at the Museum of London, nominates Greenwich…

“When I was a child my grandparents took me to Greenwich for the day.  I remember being very impressed with Admiral Nelson’s uniform (complete with blood stains) and the haunted tulip staircase in the Queen’s house. While we sat and ate cheese and onion crisps in front of the Cutty Sark, my Grandmother (who was a little eccentric) told me ‘there is so much history here you can feel it’.

“So what can you see in Greenwich today?

“You can visit the Greenwich Observatory, stand on the Meridian line and know you are in the centre of the world! Admission is free there, as well as the National Maritime Museum and the Queen’s House. You can also see the magnificent Wernher collection at Ranger’s House (free to members of English Heritage) and don’t forget the tiny Fan Museum.

“A favourite lazy Sunday morning, includes a stroll in the Royal Park to visit the deer enclosure, a leisurely coffee in one of the two cafes and a visit to the craft market.

“The remains of a Roman villa can be seen in the park and you can visit Princess Caroline’s bath. Don’t miss Queen Elizabeth’s oak, Henry VIII is reputed to have courted Anne Boleyn under the boughs of his ancient hollow tree. It fell during high winds in the 1990’s and is now slowly rotting away.

“Look down from the Observatory Gardens upon the magnificent Royal Naval College and go to visit the beautiful painted hall. Remember, beneath the college lie the remains of the Royal Palace of Placentia, birth place of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.

“It is easy to get to Greenwich by over ground train, DLR or (to really pick up the atmosphere) by river boat.

“It is more than 40 years since my introduction to the history of Greenwich, and perhaps I am becoming a little eccentric myself, but my grandmother was right, you really can ‘feel the history’.”

PICTURE: Greenwich Park, © Anne Marie Briscombe (Royal Parks)

Around London – where did you go last weekend?

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Exploring London visited the home of 19th century artist Lord Frederic Leighton in Kensington last weekend as part of Open House London.

Built over a period of more than 30 years from 1864 until Lord Leighton’s death in the home in 1896, the house is a monument to the decorative arts with a series of intricately decorated halls and rooms including the superb domed ‘Arab Hall’ featuring tiles brought from Damascus in Syria and an overhanging lattice window from Egypt.

The house, which once hosted Queen Victoria as well as nineteenth century luminaries poet Robert Browning and artist William Morris, was preserved as a museum as far back as 1900 and is now in the care of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

WHERE: 12 Holland Park Road (nearest tube station is High Street Kensington); WHEN: 10am to 5.30pm, closed Tuesdays; COST: £5 adult, £1 concessions ( with free return entry within 12 months); WEBSITE: www.rbkc.gov.uk/subsites/museums/leightonhousemuseum.aspx

So where did you go as part of Open House London and what was good about it? Share your experiences with us here…

Around London…

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• A 9 ft (2.7 metre) tall bronze statue of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, commander of the RAF in London and the south-east during the Battle of Britain, was unveiled in Waterloo Place, just off Pall Mall, this week. Sir Keith, a New Zealander who joined the RAF after fighting at Gallipoli and the Somme during World War I, was described as the “brain” behind London’s air defences. The unveiling of the statue on Battle of Britain Day (12th September) follows a three year campaign to honor Sir Keith, who died in 1975, with such a monument. A prototype of the statue occupied the Fourth Plinth at Trafalgar Square for six months after it was unveiled in November last year. For more information, see www.sirkeithpark.com.

• Spend a night at the museum (well, part of one anyway). The Natural History Museum is opening its doors for one night only as part of European Researchers’ Night on Friday, 24th September. Scientists will be on hand to chat and there will be opportunities to see rare specimens not usually on display including a giant squid. There will also be three bars offering drinks and food. The event, which we can promise won’t include you being chased down hallways by dinosaur skeletons, runs from 4pm – 10pm. For more information, see www.nhm.ac.uk.

• Don’t forget! Open House London kicks off this weekend. For more information, see last week’s Around London post.

10 sites in London you may not know about – 7. Geffrye Museum

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Tucked away just north-east of the city of London, this surprisingly interesting museum features reconstructed interiors of London homes from the 1600s through to modern times. The museum is located in former almhouses built in the early 1700s by the Company of Ironmongers using a bequest left them by Sir Robert Geffrye, a former twice-master of the company and a former Lord Mayor of London.

Worth visiting for the almhouses alone, these were used until early in the 20th century when, given the overcrowding in Shoreditch, the company decided to relocate the remaining pensioners. Thankfully, due to the fact that the almshouses were built around a large garden not to mention the lack of public open space in the area, the almhouses and grounds were preserved; the former to be used as a museum.

The museum itself features a series of informational rooms between those in which the lavishly detailed reconstructions – which are largely of the main living rooms – are contained and there’s an audio guide which is well worth taking the time to listen to as you work your way through. There’s also a restaurant and special exhibition spaces on site (contained in a modern wing opened in 1998) and preserved within the museum are the chapel once used by the pensioners and the promenade which overlooks gardens at the rear.

For those who want a closer look at what life was like for the pensioners, for a £2 fee you can take a tour of one of the former almshouses which has been restored to show the living conditions of the almhouses in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the rear of the museum, meanwhile, lies some magnificent gardens including a walled herb garden filled with herbs from Roman times onward and a series of ‘period garden rooms’. Keep an eye out as well for the statue of Sir Robert which adorns the front of the building.

WHERE: 136 Kingsland Road, Shoreditch. Nearest tube is Liverpool Street or Old Street (a fair walk) or Hoxton Overground Station (next door); WHEN: Tuesdays to Saturdays, 10am-5pm or Sundays and Bank Holidays, 12-5pm; COST: Free (admission to almhouses £2 at set times during the day); WEBSITE: www.geffrye-museum.org.uk

10 sites in London you may not know about – 4. Sir John Soane’s Museum

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Sir John Soane’s Museum is still unknown to many but that is starting to change as growing numbers of tourists descend upon the property at Lincoln’s Inn Fields (as evidenced by the queues you can now often find waiting patiently outside).

The museum is housed in the former home of noted architect and collector, Sir John Soane, who left it to the nation after he died in 1837 by an Act of Parliament with the caveat that it be kept “as nearly as circumstances will admit in the state” it was on his death.

Sir John, born the son of the bricklayer in Oxfordshire in 1753, rose to become a famous – and somewhat controversial – architect, his most famous contribution being the Bank of England.

Having married into money – his wife, Elizabeth Smith was the daughter of a wealthy builder whose fortune he inherited, Sir John bought 12 Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1792 and subsequently demolished and rebuilt it. In the early 1800s, he bought the property next door, number 13, and again demolished and rebuilt it, and, in the 182os bought number  14, which received the same treatment, eventually creating the delightfully odd and expansive home which now occupies the site.

Sir John was an avid collector of statues, furnishings, paintings and curiosities and the uniquely designed house remains filled with his collections – ranging from the Sarcophagus of Egypt’s Seti I (dating from around 1370 BC) to Sir Robert Walpole’s desk, medieval European stained glass, and William Hogarth’s famous series of paintings, A Rake’s Progress.

This is a museum worth visiting for its sheer eccentricity but it should be noted that it’s not really a place for young children – many of the rooms are small and crowded with artefacts that may just prove too tempting.

WHERE: 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Nearest tube is Holborn. WHEN:10am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday; COST: Free to enter (there is a museum tour on Saturdays for £5); WEBSITE: www.soane.org