• Totally Thames, London’s month-long celebration of the River Thames, has kicked off with a programme featuring dozens of events along a 42-mile stretch of the river. Highlights include this weekend’s Great River Race, which takes place on Saturday, in which almost 300 crews compete across 21.6 miles from Millwall Slip to Richmond in the city’s largest river marathon. Also returning this weekend is the St Katharine Docks Classic Boat Festival, now in its 17th year, which brings together more than 50 restored historic vessels, including Thames sailing barges, Dunkirk ‘Little Ships’ and steam tugs, as well as live music, talks and family activities. This Saturday also sees Sing for Water celebrate its 25th anniversary by bringing together more than 300 singers from over 40 choirs in support of WaterAid, in the Bargehouse Courtyard behind the OXO Tower. Other events across the month include the Hands on History Mudlarking Programme in which visitors to three sites – the Roman Amphitheatre under Guildhall Art Gallery, St Paul’s Cathedral and London Museum Docklands – can meet experienced mudlarkers, handle archaeological artefacts and see some of the thousands of objects found preserved in the river. There’s also an exhibition, Lost and Found, featuring the work of photographer Henry Reichhold, and the chance to board the historic sailing barge Raybel which has been tranformed into a live cultural venue for the event with a programme of live music, talks and mini performances. For more, check out https://thamesfestivaltrust.org/whats-on/.
• Open House London returns this coming week with a nine day program of events. The 35th edition of the festival, which runs from 12th to 20th September, again gives people the chance to enter hundreds of buildings normally closed to the public. Highlights this year, alongside tours of such regulars as 10 Downing Street, the BT Tower and Broadcasting House, include the Lloyd’s Building, which was designed by Richard Rogers and opened in 1996, recording studio Strongroom which has hosted everyone from Nick Cave and Radiohead to The Chemical Brothers and produced such hits as the Spice Girls’ Wannabee and Little Simz Sometimes I Might Be Introvert and the remains of London’s Roman basilica and forum beneath Leadenhall Market. There’s also the chance to step inside Wapping Hydraulic Power Station and the West Ham Pumping Station as well as a series of ‘festival neighbourhoods’ including in Fitzrovia, Bankside and Piccadilly and Jermyn Street as well as other openings right across London’s boroughs. For the full programme of events, head to programme.openhouse.org.uk.
• Monastic treasures from Ukraine go on display at the V&A in South Kensington for the first time from Monday. Sacred Treasures from Kyiv features 18th-century sacred objects on loan from Ukraine’s ‘Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’ complex and includes seven objects including an Icon and a silver-bound altar Gospel, a diskos used to carry the Eucharist in Orthodox liturgy, and a silver gilded chalice depicting the crucifixion. The display marks the 975th anniversary of the founding of the Lavra monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is being accompanied by a programme of events. The display, which is free to view, can be seen until 17th September next year. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/sacred-treasures-from-kyiv.
• A seven metre-long tapestry, inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry and featuring Shaun the Sheep and friends, has been unveiled at the Natural History Museum ahead of the release of the upcoming film Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom on 18th September. The Baa-Ewe Tapestry, which was unveiled by Tom Daley, will be on display at the museum until 1st November. Created by a team of 15 designers and textile specialists, it took more than 180 hours to design and craft and features lovingly stitched scenes inspired by the film. For more, head to https://www.nhm.ac.uk.
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