Inside the Museum of London

It’s official, we are now starting to feel rather festive as our Christmas trees are in place and decorated at both the Museum of London and the Museum of London Docklands.

Above is the tree for the Museum of London which is displayed in our foyer near to the entrance to the first of our galleries, London Before London.

Here is a look at the tree in place in the foyer of the Museum of London Docklands…

With Victorian Grotto’s created especially for Santa (although we hear that after Christmas a certain Scrooge will be in residence) due to open at both museums on Saturday and lots of festive fun for families planned throughout December we hope that a visit to either (or both) of our museums will add some Christmas cheer!

Hi guys Giusy here, back again with our first update of the month from the museums Visitor Services Team.

Here at the Museum of London we love to get inspired by our collections. I hear that very exciting projects are on their way but let me show you what some of us have been working on so far.
We all have a passion for London but for some of the Hosts this enthusiasm becomes a real obsession and so we have been running a different series of workshops for families and children at the museum.

My personal inspiration comes straight from my favourite exhibition in the Museum: the Roman Gallery. With a focus on perhaps one the most famous art activities during Roman times, I decided to work on a mosaic, but a real one, to be made with real stone tesserae and based on authentic Roman design!
The model that I chose for my common project is a twisted rope design technically called Guilloche. I thought it was exceptionally representative of the Roman culture as it was often used in borders to enclose popular patterns and also because we have a wonderful one in our Roman gallery.

What a better example with which to get inspiration from for the kids!
I created the Guilloche freehand but it took me a bit of organisation and time.
I sketched six big circles in an A3 sheet and I drew six smaller circles inside. To make the large circles on the sheets I used a pen held in a loop in a thread and I pinned the string at the centre of the circle to obtain radius of not more than 3cm. At this point I simply drew lines for the rows of the stone tesserae.
Roman craftsmen would opt for different combination of colours according to the uses they were designated for. I wanted to create something that looked quite similar to our Bucklersbury mosaic.

The mosaic I am working on with the kids has six lines and presents an alternation of 3 colours. Normally guilloche frames would have had three lines of tesserae only. These might have been one line of one colour and the remaining two of a different colour but they could also have a combination of three colours for each row.
Here you can see what we have achieved so far…

It is a very time consuming work and your patience will pay dividend.

Our Roman Gallery is planned to be completely refurbished after the 2012 Olympics Games.
I can’t wait to give a tour in the new exhibition and perhaps develop another workshop!

One of our hand-drawn London artists, Paula Simoes, discusses the process of creating her map and where it led her…

The prospect of creating a hand-drawn map of London was compelling from the start. This was an opportunity for individuals to depict their own interpretations of the city , a personal response allowing unique observations and experiences to shape each map. The first step was deciding which perceptions to include – filtering these out from a cornucopia of memories and interactions with my native city. Introducing a theme helped me do just that. Toilets were an obvious subject matter to portray, not only did they provide a practical use for the map but also a connection with a shared human experience.

 ’Selected Loos of London’ is a cartographic offering that we can all relate to, its very topic makes sure of this, yet I was somewhat unprepared for the degree of reaction the representation of lavatories would incite. Although many of the toilets featured in my piece cannot be classified as public conveniences, some are, and this has led individuals to express concern about the dwindling number of such facilities in the capital.

Selected Loos of London by Paula Simoes

In their Victorian heyday numerous public toilets were built. Architects and engineers ensured that these constructions were of the highest standard, complying with the wishes of local authorities. Civic pride dictated that quality materials like decorative tiles, copper and marble were used.  However, in time many of these facilities proved too costly to maintain and so the seed of decline was sown.  Cheaper materials were introduced when repairs were carried out, accelerating further deterioration. In addition, a dilapidated appearance often attracted vandalism , making costs soar all the more. When you consider these maintenance expenses, place them within the context of the current economic climate where government cuts prevail, and couple this with the fact that councils do not have a statutory duty to offer public toilet provision, it is hardly surprising that it is not regarded  as an immediate priority. Closures appear to be an appropriate option. Yet the truth remains; in a populous global city such as London, the lack of sufficient public toilets has broader public health and environmental repercussions which also come at a cost. Given these wider potential negative effects, closures are not a straightforward solution..

Waiting for maintenance work to commence - the indefinite closure of Great Marlborough Street public toilet. Photograph by Paula Simoes

Creating ‘Selected Loos of London’  forced me to reflect on my own experience of toilet searching. As the mother of a young child, there have been numerous times when I have had to find the nearest lavatory. A limited amount of toilet provision hits the young, those less mobile and the elderly hardest. The latter group is of notable concern when you consider London’s ageing population. Blue Badge Tourist Guides, for example, have found that a large number of people willingly reduce hydration while out in order to avoid the hassle of searching for a loo. Research has also found that inadequate toilet provision causes people to cut journeys short or compels them to stick to familiar routes. In some cases it leads to anxiety before an individual is even out of their own front door. Consequences such as these threaten quality of life. As the impact of the decline in public toilets increases, so does the concern of individuals.

 In 2006 concern for public toilet provision was already so great that the London Assembly put together its own report regarding the issue. Since then, concern has increased so much as to warrant a second report – due to be published this spring. The first report found that the number of public toilets had already fallen by up to 40% in the previous five years. With the steady increase in closures since then, the upcoming report will no doubt  reveal an alarming statistic in relation to the capital’s remaining public loos. There appears to be a real need to readdress this issue, reassess findings and refurbish existing facilities. Furthermore, we need to redefine attitudes towards the humble public toilet.

Although somewhat costly, refurbishment makes practical and relative financial sense. Last week I visited the Portobello area where I was heartened to see two refurbishment projects taking place. Both sites are scheduled to reopen in May. Over the years a string of minor repair works had kept the Bevington Road  toilets working but its appearance was decidedly run-down. The premises on Talbot Road were closed in 2000. It is remarkable to think that Portobello, one of London’s main tourist destinations (and popular with Londoners alike) has been without decent public toilet provision for so long. I visited the area’s Street Trading Office which displayed information regarding the refurbishments and included architectural drawings. The public had recently been invited to consider four cubicle tiling options and drop feedback forms stating preferences or relevant ideas in a suggestion box. I strongly believe that this is the kind of two-way communication that needs to be had if public toilets are to survive in London. As I photographed the Talbot Road site I was struck by a particular detail – someone had given the female symbol above the ladies’ toilets its very own speech bubble. This speech bubble was peeling away at the corners, the words it once housed had faded long ago, leaving it entirely empty. Poignantly, I felt as though I was looking at a visual representation of the need for dialogue.

Talbot Road refurbishment. Photography by Paula Simoes

We must consider all viable options if real dialogue is to be established. One recent development has been the introduction of the Community Toilet Scheme. The scheme sees local businesses allowing members of the public to use their facilities free of charge. Those businesses taking part are given a cash incentive in order to provide this service. Although I welcome businesses opening up access to toilets, it is worrying if this works as a substitute to standard provision. Despite participating businesses displaying window stickers, they are still difficult to find. Smaller premises (especially those in the city centre) often struggle to cater for the additional number of people using their facilities, this leads to extended queues and possible resentment from patrons towards non-paying customers. A further concern is that access to facilities would only be provided during specific business hours.

I do however feel that a solution may be found in a connection between local authorities, businesses and the community. Ideally, the Government would make public toilet provision a statutory obligation, or at the very least ensure that sites are earmarked for this purpose. From what I have seen of some regeneration projects, such provision is merely an afterthought in town planning. Businesses could make vital contributions by sponsoring public toilets, and communities as well as individuals should be encouraged to get involved too.

 The twelve toilets in ‘Selected Loos of London’ illustrate a variety of characteristics. They range from the practical, non-nonsense types such as the one at Piccadilly Circus station and the dog toilet in Holland Park to the quirky, creative use of space seen at the White Cubicle gallery. Innovative design is embraced at the Sketch Restaurant loos and Saki has its high-tech paperless lavatory. Flamboyance is found at Harrods or how I imagine the Buckingham Palace toilets to look. I believe that London is a combination of these characteristics and our public toilets could reflect that. These spaces could become focal points where art is displayed, noticeboards provide local information as well as detail events, and  health related issues are brought into light. Appropriate basic toiletries and nappies could be dispensed there too. The skills of local people ought to be brought in. If someone, for example, shows remarkable horticultural skills then they could be asked to provide hanging baskets or even plant a flowerbed; a contribution that would be made according to the size and location of the facility.  There are endless ways to recreate our public toilets and people’s attitude towards them. If  local businesses and communities have an input then each facility would develop its own identity, making it all the more special to those it serves. In many ways, it all comes down to reclaiming some of that civic pride the Victorians had in abundance.

Much like the London Assembly, I have decided to revisit toilet territory in five years’ time. ‘Selected Loos of London’ will have a follow-up that deals with  the state of 2016’s  public toilet provision. In a worst case scenario I would be filling the page with a single lavatory ( a solitary public loo is all that Manchester has to offer – so it is a realistic prospect) or worse still, be forced to leave the paper blank. The piece will either be ‘Remaining Loos of London’ or ‘New Loos of London’. My hope is that the latter title is used and that the task of narrowing down my selection is an arduous one as I shall be spoilt for choice.

Hand-drawn London
Musuem of London
FREE
21 April – 11 September 2011
Click here for more information on the exhibition

Painting the Town Red: the Museum of London unveils ‘Hidden’ by Red Saunders

What have black Chartist William Cuffay, revolutionary thinker Thomas Paine and rebel Watt Tyler got in common? They have all been ‘photographed’ by activist Red Saunders for the photo tableaux ‘Hidden’, now installed in the foyer of the Museum of London.

These rich and inspiring images use a modern cast with period touches to depict key moments and characters in the history of the ordinary man. Red Saunders said: “I recreate important moments in the long struggle of working people for democracy and social justice. History has been dominated by kings, queens, war and ‘great men’. Hidden engages with a different historical narrative involving dissenters, revolutionaries and radicals.”

The images are beautiful and detailed, encouraging the viewer to engage with the subject and setting, reminding us that people had faces and identities before photography. All of these men were real, and their achievements are still with us today. ‘Hidden’ is on show in the foyer now – if you can come and see it, do!

Happy New Year to all our readers from the Museum of London!

late events

Just to let everyone know that the ‘late’ events are not happening in January at all, but the next late events are on Thursday 5 February 2009, 6-9pm

Museum of London: Write Queer London
Join us for an evening of smart talk, wise words and music in celebration of London’s Queer history.

Museum of London Docklands: LandFall
Celebrate the opening of LandFall, our new exhibition, with an evening of poetry and live chamber music and voice.

Need something to do?

If you are looking to do something in the coming weeks, why not visit the Museum of London or the Museum of London Docklands?

At Museum of London
We have an exhibition in the Museum of London foyer called ‘Homeless in the Capital’, until 22 February 2009

Video and audio interviews, twenty-four hour diaries, poetry, art and personal belongings all offer insights into the everyday lives of people who are or have been homeless in central London. More about Homeless in the Capital

At Museum of London Docklands
A new exhibition at Museum of London called ‘LandFall’, from 6 February until 31 May 2009

Explore the Atlantic Ocean as natural phenomenon and transporter of dreams and peoples in this new exhibition. More about LandFall

Snap up London for £15!

Become a new Friend of Museum of London between 9 December 2008 and 28 February 2009 and get London: The Illustrated History half price! More about Friends offer

Wishing you all a great 2009!

Smoking was introduced to Britain in the 16th century, and pipe and cigar smoking had become popular by the 19th century. Tobacco use continued to rise and the first mass produced cigarettes were introduced in the 1880s. Evidence of smoking is often demonstrated on archaeological sites in the form of clay pipes. These disposable items were easy to make and the different types and manufactures markings can provide valuable dating information.

Recent analysis of over 700 skeletons from the Catholic Mission of Saints Mary and Michael, Whitechapel, London, who died between 1843 and 1854, has demonstrated how evidence of smoking can also be observed in the bones of past populations.

 Fifty eight adult skeletons (58/268: 21.6%) displayed wear patterns to the surfaces of the teeth. These were often smooth, rounded grooves resulting from long term pipe smoking. In many cases a circular hole or ‘pipe notch’ was clearly visable when the upper and lower jaws were closed. Thirty two of the individuals with pipe notches also showed a brown coloured staining to the inside of the teeth. Pipe notches were found on a number of young adults. These may have developed over several years suggesting that smoking could have been taken up at a younger age. Adult smokers were also found to be more likely associated with lesions to the inside surfaces of the ribs, possibly the result of lung disease resulting from smoking.

This evidence may help provide information about how smoking affected the health of an individual and if it made more susceptible to other diseases and the infections compared to non smokers. If smoking was more commonplace amongst the Victorian working class, this may be used as an indicator of status and possibly gender. This may also help better our understanding and awareness of smoking in the modern world that is reported to kill 5.4 million people each year (World Health Organisation 2008).

A year on from the smoking ban, the museum of London looks into the history of smoking in London and life in the captial since the ban with a new exhibition ‘ The Big Smoke’. More information can be found at the following link…

www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/AboutUs/Newsroom/Archived08/The+Big+Smoke.htm (link updated 8 February 2010)

Did you know that road traffic accidents in London kill less than 1 person each day, while smoking cigarettes kills 1 Londoner every hour? Or that cigarette butts account for 40% of the litter on London’s streets? Despite these bleak statistics 2 million Londoners regularly light up to enjoy a cigarette.

One year on from the smoking ban, The Big Smoke looks at the history of smoking in London and life in the capital since the ban.

Curator Meriel Jeater says, ‘London has been a centre of the tobacco trade and consumption for 400 years and this topical display will look at how attitudes to smoking have altered over this time. The recent ban on smoking in public places is causing widespread changes and this display will showcase Londoners’ opinions on the ban and how it is affecting their city.

For some people the new legislation is the final prompt they needed to quit smoking. For others it is ruining their businesses. We want to know what Londoners think.’

You can visit ‘The Big Smoke’ at the Museum of London until 21 September 2008.  Entry is free.

Find out more at The Big Smoke article in our newsroom.

Jon Cotton, Senior Curator (Prehistory) in the Early London History and Collections department of the Museum of London, talks about the Weather Permitting display at the Museum of London. You can see Weather Permitting at the Museum of London until Sunday 15 June 2008.

‘When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.’ Dr Samuel Johnson.

Why Weather Permitting at the Museum of London?
Try switching on your TV or radio or opening a newspaper without coming across the words ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’. The Museum is well placed to cast an historical eye on this topical question, although in putting the display together we deliberately made no attempt to present a thorough-going scientific analysis of climate change (we’re not meteorologists after all – or politicians for that matter). Instead our aim was to offer a well-grounded historical commentary on London’s weather, delivered with a light touch that focussed on the quirky and the downright strange. The display took the best part of six months to research, design and mount, and its successful delivery involved a wide range of people right across the Museum and beyond.

Display or Exhibition?
We’ve been careful to describe the show as a display, NOT an exhibition. The reason is simple: the space available within the Museum is currently limited. We do not want to raise more expectations than we can realistically deliver in the space. That said, we hope that there is plenty in Weather Permitting with which our visitors can engage.

What’s in the display then?
The display is split between the front foyer and the area outside the London before London gallery. Both are equally important. The front foyer incorporates various layers of information including a climate time-line that runs right to left back into the Ice Age, to highlight the cyclical nature of climate change. This is populated with individual weather events that aim for the ‘well I never’ response.

Contemporary quotes and quirky facts are supported by appropriate images and objects including costume in the large case to the left. A series of five free-standing displays in front of the time-line wall examine specific types of weather: HEAT; STORM; FLOOD; FOG; FREEZE.

Finally a listening-post contains a series of oral testimonies relating to various weather-related events such as the Westminster flood of 1928, the freezing winter of 1947 and so on.

The second main part of the display is in the London before London foyer around the corner. This provides a more contemplative space to show light-sensitive objects including a series of paintings that focus on how artists have recorded London’s weather in the past.

What’s been the response?
So far, reaction has been really positive: the first two weeks of the display coincided with school half term and the foyer was absolutely heaving. Families were spotted singing along to the weather songs and nursery rhymes, and enjoying the storytelling sessions. There’s been a down-side though – the interactives have taken a terrible battering. We’ve already gone through several thunderdrums and a range of fans while the weather lore disk will have to be redesigned to cope with the numbers wanting to use it. It looks as though we’ve been victims of our own success!

The press have picked up on the display too. Time Out have been particularly supportive, and even arranged a tie-in competition asking readers to name their all-time favourite top ten weather songs. (The winner got to hear some of his selections playing in the foyer too!)

My favourite bit of the display …?
I’m really fond of the pair of dainty silk shoes dating to c.1700 in the costume display case, and the painting of the cab horses in snow in the London before London foyer. (I also enjoyed drinking the contents of the bottle of English wine that forms part of the display – but that’s another story!) The whole team had a great time putting the music sound track together, and an appeal to other colleagues swiftly brought a deluge of replies. Everyone’s got their favourite song – for what it’s worth mine is When The Levee Breaks, a 1971 cover version by Led Zeppelin of a song originally written by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy following the disasterous Mississippi floods of 1927. Given the floods we had in parts of London last summer, this has a very contemporary edge …

Well, fancy that …

• John Evelyn’s 1661 tract Fumifugium: or the Inconvenience of the Aer and Smoake of London Dissipated was one of the first to draw attention to environmental problems in the capital.
• An earthquake at five-thirty in the morning of March 8 1750 threw a servant girl in Charterhouse Square from her bed, causing her to break her arm. Dogs howled ‘in uncommon tones’ and fish were seen to jump ‘half a yard above the water’.
• While watching late night TV Ron Langton was startled to find fish falling on the roof of his house in East Ham during a thunderstorm on May 26 1984. Other residents in nearby Canning Town experienced similar fish showers the same evening.

There are more photos from the development of the display and the final installation on Flickr.

Plans for 2008

Both Museum of London and Museum in Docklands have great plans for 2008. Here’s a sneak preview of what’s coming up this year…

Don’t forget late at both Museum of London and Museum in Docklands on the first Thursday of every month. When twilight descends unexpected events occur…giving people the chance to enjoy live performances, tours and music alongside relaxing with a drink at the bar! Check our Events page for updates.

MUSEUM OF LONDON

Weather Permitting: London’s changing climate

15 February – 20 April 2008

The state of the weather is in the forefront of the mind of the public, as Dr Johnson informs us, ‘when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.’ Museum of London launches its first display focusing on centuries of the capital’s climate change and weather reports.

The Big Smoke

1 July – 21 September 2008

One year on from the smoking ban, a display looking at the history of smoking in London. Using objects and images from the Museum of London’s collections the display will chart the history of smoking from the first introduction of tobacco to London, to the present day, following changes in attitude over the centuries. The display will also showcase different opinions on the current smoking ban and show its effects on London businesses and Londoners.

Caught in time – photo display to coincide with publication of book

2 October – 23 November 2008

A photographic display documenting a diverse range of old-style shops in London, taken during the 1970s and 1980s , and more recent photographs showing what happened to the shop sites after they closed. The high-quality, large scale photographs will be accompanied by recordings of interviews with the former shop owners and proprietors.

The hugely exciting £20.5 million redevelopment project to transform the lower galleries is underway and the noisy work about to commence. The upper galleries, London Before London, Roman London and Medieval London remain open throughout the refurbishment and a full programme of fantastic adult and family events continue.

MUSEUM IN DOCKLANDS

Outside Edge: A journey through Black British lesbian and gay history

7 February – 4 April 2008

This challenging display will publicly commemorate people and events important to the Black LGBT community. It will celebrate its achievements and highlight the issues it has faced in the past and still faces today. The display will document the emergence of the Black LGBT community from the 1970s and demonstrate its contribution to campaigns for fair representation and against homophobia, while also celebrating the vibrant Black LGBT cultural, club and music scene.

Jack the Ripper and the East End

15 May – 2 November 2008

Museum in Docklands is returning to the scene of London’s most infamous crimes, with its major new exhibition, Jack the Ripper and the East End. The exhibition will open a new path by looking at the human stories behind the penny-dreadful accounts. Bringing together the surviving original documents for the first time, including police files, photographs, and letters from the public, it will map the world which witnessed the murders and was transformed by them.

Museum in Docklands turns 5 this year and will be celebrating in the summer!