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Published: August 25th 2010
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I had noted an interest in the advertisement of the Museum of London attached on the wall of the tube stations in West End, saying that there have been new galleries added recently. I picked up the leaflet of the Museum of Docklands at Sutton House in July. These promotional tools encouraged me to visit the Museum of London and the Museum of Docklands near Canary Wharf.
We decided to visit the Museum of London and the Museum of Docklands on 15 August. The city of London was extremely quiet on Sunday morning, with a few shops opening. We found the monument related to the Charles Wesley in front of the Museum of London and took a couple of pictures.
I was holding a camera when we entered the museum. One of the ushers gave us a map and said, "We're pleased to let you know that you are now allowed to take photos in the exhibition rooms provided you don't use flashes."
We went to the exhibition rooms of the Prehistoric Period at first. I heard that there had been an enormous amount of archaeological items discovered by the volunteer staff while building works have been carried
out along the Thames recently. We were impressed with the comprehensive archaeological collections, which included bear skull, lower jaw of a mammoth, reindeer antler, flint knives, a skull of rhinoceros, and the remains of the yew trees which was thought to be lived between 2500 and 1200 BG. The study has proved that those archaeological items ascribe the period of between 450,000 BC and 1200 BC. Mark found the exhibition of the wooden platform, which was found near Vauxhall and was televised on the Channel 4 a few years ago. We continued looking round the Prehistoric exhibition rooms and saw a wide variety of bronze items, e.g. bronze spearhead, bronze rapier, and bronze cosmetic mortars, fragments of vessels and glasses, which were all used for every life, hunting, and ritual festivals. While we were looking at the exhibition of the settlement, we saw the example of the construction of one of the houses, which was infilled with wattle and daub, which was akin to the structure of brick residential domestic house, i.e. Sutton House of Hackney, which was initially known as Bryk Place, when it was first built in 1535.
Next we moved to the exhibition room of the
time during the Roman and Saxon period. I was impressed with various collections of surgical equipment and tools, e.g. bronze tongue depressors, waterpipes, manicure sets and tweezers, which would have helped people remove dirt to improve their sanitation and heal their disease. We enjoyed looking at the reconstructed Roman kitchen, dining room and hall, which was decorated with the floral pattern. There were some famous monuments, e.g. tombstone of Claudia Martina, Temple furniture including limestone altars, column or the monument depicting with four different mothers holding bread, fruits, and babies displayed at the exhibition rooms.
We then went to the exhibition of the period between the late Saxon and the early medieval period. There were some sizeable models of wooden ships, oak post, which was formed part of a large building, stone shields, and the monuments of royal arms and coat of arms and decorative floors. The exhibits included valuable pieces of pottery or treasures, which came from Europe, e.g. German stoneware, Baltic amber, or Spanish jars, and very first printed documents, e.g. books of chronicles of England, Thomas More’s hymns, and Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
The Tudor exhibition included a series of articles related to Henry VIII’s
dissolution of monasteries and debris of the abbeys, and some of the findings, e.g. fragments of vessels and decorations attached to the vaulted arches of the monasteries.
There were a number of notable monuments e.g. original structure of the first playhouse, i.e. Globe Theatre, the marble frieze, which was excavated around Arundel House, which was used for the chapel’s screen at Somerset House, household items, e.g. 16th century portable oven, and some of the early music instruments, e.g. Virginal.
We found it very interesting to see the dramatic oil painting of the Great Fire of London of 1666, and old-fashioned five engine cars with wooden waterpipes, buckets, and firemen's helmets.
We went downstairs and started looking round the exhibitions of the late Georgian, Industrious Revolution, Victorian, Edwardian, Modern, War-time, Post war, and Present day of London.
It was interesting to note that there were some London based pottery manufacturers, e.g. Chelsea Pottery and they produced decorative teapots, teacups, plates, and wine glasses in the past.
London was once home to various Huguenot or silkweaver families who originally came from France. Some of lucky Huguenot families gained a lot of wealth with their outstanding tailoring. There were beautiful and elegant silk dresses embellished with colourful beads and previous stones, and a number of fans and accessories displayed in the glass cases.
Another fascinating collection was Queen Victoria's doll house and her dolls, and the 3D models of the Great Exhibition held at the Crystal Palace.
Londoners experienced a number of air-raids by Germans led by Hitler, and there were collections of equipment, first aid goods, and clothes that people used to protect themselves from bomb explosions and subsequent destructions.
After that, we looked at the retrospective household items and gadgets and children's toys that were used in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, and the paintings of London's recent events, e.g. Trafalgar Square Riot of 1981 and Brixton's riot in the 1980s. London is a great metropolitan city with a huge variety of ethnic groups and it is said that over 300 languages are spoken everyday. We are truly convinced the message written on the Present London's exhibition rooms after looking round the huge collections of artefacts from the Prehistoric period to the present London.
It was 2 o'clock when we finished looking round the exhibitions. We had a lunch at the cafe near the exhibition rooms on the B1 floor. We didn't see souvenirs at the shop and started walking to Moorgate to travel to the Museum of Docklands.
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