The working life of Museum of London

Yesterday, a group of Londoners roamed around the Museum creating photographs using shoe boxes as cameras. Inspired by images in the Street Photography exhibition, they used the pin-hole technique, pioneered in the 1830s. When working in pin-hole, anything can be your camera. You simply make a hole in a box to let a very small amount of light onto photographic paper. The photographers of the images above and below used shoe boxes.

The shoe boxes were painted black inside, with a sheet of photographic paper on the bottom. The photographers set them up at different points around the site and allowed light through in for about 2 minutes. The images were then developed in the museum dark room with the help of facilitator Kathryn Faulkner and the museum photographic team. The end product is an intriguing negative image, but a few clicks on Photoshop or the right type of phone, reveal the positive version.

This workshop was part of the Inclusion ‘Continue Creating’ programme.

Iron Mongers Hall - Original Negative

Iron Mongers Hall - Positive inversion

Jug and glasses - Original negative

Jug and glasses - Inverted positive

High walk - Original Negative

High walk - Positive inversion

Garden - Negative original

Garden - Positive inversion

In advance of our Gladiator Games this July and with the kind permisssion of the publisher, The History Press, we are able to share with you extracts from the book “The World of the Gladiator” by author Susanna Shadrake. Who is also an historical adviser for our gladiator reinactors Britannia who are competing at our games.

Susanna’s book provides us with insight and context for both the preparations and the nature of the combat you can experience over the two days of our games taking place on the site of London’s original Roman amphitheatre, now the Guildhall Yard.

The First Amphitheatres

Amphitheatres had already existed outside Rome, in neighbouring Camania, since at least the end of the second century BC, and certainly from around 70 BC, when Pompeii’s amphitheatre was constructed. By the end of the republic, there were already more than 10 amphitheatres in Campania, Lucania and Etruria, with the majority of those in Campania, the main candidate for the origin of the gladiatorial combats, as well as for the amphithetares themselves.

An amphitheatre in the Guildhall Yard

The reign of Domitian coincided with a fresh phase of the London amphitheatre, and by that time the gladiatorial categories and the conventions of the arena were well known. Hundreds of amphitheatres across Europe and North Africa recreated in lesser scale what the Colosseum achieved at Rome.

Seating and tickets: social status set in stone

Contrary to the popularly held belief that the Colosseum was filled with the screaming mob, it is more realistic to assume that seats in this amphitheatre, as in most others, were allocated according to status, and in line with the client system of patronage which ran through every relationship in Rome.

Humbler Romans without family or business connections may have got in to the munera only by paying through the nose for the privilege (some magistrates rented out seats), some tickets undoubtedly filtered down to the lower orders, but not in significant numbers.

Reconstructing the spectacle

The first decision to be made in recreating this kind of spectacle is how far to go in bringing authenticity to an ancient entertainment whose central element was the unavoidably deliberate bloodshed. The decision was taken that the integrity of the original events that occured at the Guildhall in the middle to late first century AD should be respected.

Disclaimers would be necessary to ensure that everyone [is] aware that, although it was not real, we would be seeking a real response.

On the history side of things, the overall time period of the portrayal had to be carefully considered; a British based society such as Britannia would be best placed to recreate the dynamic Flavian period of the late first and early second centuries.

Despite the less forgiving climate of Britain compared to Rome or its Mediterranean environs, the indications are that the climate was slightly warmer, so wherever possible the principle of exposed flesh and partial armouring [are] retained to re-inforce the image of the gladiator.

All extracts (c) The History Press / Susanna Shadrake.

The World of the Gladiator (ISBN 978-0-7524-3442-1) by Susanna Shadrake is published by the History Press and is available from the Museum’s Shop.

Uncover more background on the upcoming Gladiator Games via our previous blog updates here.

Did you know about the particle detector labs hidden deep down in one of London’s “central” tube stations or the famous landmark that was originally built to double up as a site to observe the heavens? Find out with “London Science Uncovered”, the new location based game for London!

The Museum of London Learning Department has teamed up with the Institute of Physics (external link) to take you on a tour of some of London’s famous and lesser known places of scientific discovery. A brand new smartphone game will guide you around the city, giving you activities and photo opportunities along the way.

Take a new view of the city and uncover the fascinating stories behind the places you wander past each day. The trail will take you around central London and will be a great way to fill a lunchtime or a summer’s day.

To enjoy the tour, you will need a smartphone, either an iPhone or Android phone with an internet connection, and the free SCVNGR (external link) app available from iTunes (external link) and the Google App Store (external link). Simply login to the app, choose treks and then search for “London Science Uncovered”.

Once you’ve completed the trail, answered the questions and snapped your photos, come along to the Museum of London. Show your phone and congratulations message to the Museum’s hosts at the entrance desk to claim your goodie bag of prizes!

We’d love to hear your feedback and suggestions too, so send us a message:

aflowers@museumoflondon.org.uk

Blog author: Alex Flowers, Project Coordinator (Digital Learning)

In advance of our Gladiator Games in July, and following on from our last post detailing the filming of our upcoming Streetmuseum Londinium app (click here to read), we have the latest news from our gladiators in training as they took the opportunity for a little extra practice and helped out a friend who wanted to run the London Marathon dressed as a Roman Legionnaire!

On the weekend of the royal wedding the gladiators from Britannia were performing at Flag Fen Bronze Age Centre in Peterborough.

Following their scheduled Roman shows, and after the public had left the site, they took the opportunity to squeeze in a little extra training before the Guildhall Yard shows on 30 & 31 July.

The routine between a Thraex and Hoplomachus is beginning to take shape and everyone was pleased with the results.

Testing of new large scutae (shields), planned to be used in the games, were also supported by two Provocators.

The routines are still mainly rehearsed un-armoured and as soon as a combat sequence is mastered, the armour gets added.

Our gladiators also recently heard from Tim Rees, who wanted to run this year’s London Marathon dressed as a Roman Legionary.

Britannia were only too happy to support Tim by lending him some ‘classic’ legionary kit from the Flavian period (late 1st Century AD).

Tim ran in improvised caligae (Roman miltary sandals) – without the hobnail base! He also found the wool tunic worked brilliantly, as when wet, it kept him nice and cool.

Tim completed the marathon in just under 5 hours and was pleased to report he did not walk a single step.

Catch up on previous Gladiator Games blog posts here.

In advance of our Gladiator Games in July, and following on from our last post detailing the start of our gladiatorial training (click here to read), we are able to share with you a behind the scenes look as the Britannia re-enactment group take a break from their training to work on a film performance for our upcoming iPhone and iPad app Streetmuseum Londinium.

To complement the games, the Museum has joined forces with TV channel HISTORY™ to launch this free app, following the huge success of Streetmuseum launched in May 2010. The new app will bring Roman London to life using a combination of never-before-seen technologies, with users able to ‘excavate’ artefacts, view augmented reality scenes of Londinium and explore overlaid maps of the ancient and modern city.

Britannia’s gladiators were used in the filming  of one of these scenes of Roman London life for the app. Using ‘green screen’ technology, they recreated scenes of gladiators battling it out in the amphitheatre that once stood in the Guildhall Yard (the location for the upcoming Gladiator Games).

There are some different requirements when filming in front of green screen backgrounds, for instance sometimes you’re required to react to things that aren’t there and more importantly for the film makers, nothing must be too reflective, so armour has to be dulled down with grease or wax polish. If any large areas of green are reflected, then the odd appearance of what is jokingly called ‘holes in time and space’ can occur on the armour, making the special effects editor’s job very hard to patch up.

So the gladiators deliberately didn’t clean the armour before hand, and chose to wear padded armour on their limbs, to cut down chances of reflection. Larger shields were also ditched because of the chances of injury and damage to other props and camera equipment in the confined space. A net was chosen with larger holes to cut down the chance of a mesh effect in front of the background.

The film crew had sand delivered as a fighting surface, and after several rehearsals - the gladiators were ready to go!

You can see the completed scene in all its glory when Streetmuseum Londinium launches on iTunes on 25 July. Until then we can share an example of  Britannia’s film work with you in this extract from the children’s series Horrible Histories on YouTube (external link).

As we prepare for our spectacular Gladiator Games in July, thanks to our friends at Britannia, we can share with you this insight as our warriors train for combat:

“We have undertaken our second major training session of the year as we prepare for the Guildhall show and we’re certainly moving things along.

At our training ground, we were able to mock up an area with ropes and spikes that should match the dimensions of the Guildhall arena.

We’ve also started to stream gladiators into categories, recognising where people’s strengths and skills best match the weapons and equipment to be used on the day.

In total 22 gladiators ( 11 pairs of varied age and size) worked through the heat of the weekend of the 16th and 17th April.

We have two promising recruits to the category of Retiarius gladiators to keep our senior Retiarius, Ferrox, company. They showed excellent promise with the net and trident.

Our biggest surprise over the weekend was a young lad who exceeded everyone’s expectations as one of the best Thraex gladiators we’ve seen. He has little experience (apart from playing rugby) but has proved swift and confident  with the curved sword (Sica) and was able to match a very experienced Hoplomachus to give a varied and exciting performance that had us all cheering!

We initially train with what looks like an odd combination of 21st century clothes and gradually introduce elements of equipment and armour.

We feel that comfort and getting participants used to the armour, belts and weapons is vital for a good performance.

We then sort our trainees into categories, let them work out a basic routine, then get them kitted up…

They soon realise how they are inhibited or indeed enhanced by what they intend to wear, then adjustments are made accordingly.

We finished the weekend with a full walk-through and individual combats to match the timetable on the day.”

Find out more about our gladiators via their website here and look out for further updates coming soon to our blog, as the gladiators undertake media appearances and visit their armourer’s workshop.

Time is ticking away before the 20 images that will make up the Your 2012 free exhibition go on display dealing with the impact of the construction of the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London. Come along and see it when it starts at the Museum of London Docklands on 22nd July 2011.

Anyway as promised here is some information all about the pre 2007 history of the Olympic site before redevelopment had begun.

Hackney Wick

 Hackney Wick was a highly industrialised area around the canal and the railway with its best known products including Clarico Mints (still available but made elsewhere). Petrol was first given its name here (a company called Carless Berger started making paints around here in 1780). The world’s first synthetic plastic parkesine was made here. There were chemical works and they were also pioneers of the synthetic dye industry. Dry cleaning in the country started here too. Other factories made pies and processed foods, jam and much more besides including Lesneys Matchbow Toys  from 1947-1983. Around 1900 Old Etonian Major Arthur Villiers, a Director of Barings Bank bought an area of land to be used in perpetuity as allotments, a bequest that was sadly ended in 2007 when the holders were evicted and had to make way for the London 2012 Olympics.

 Hackney stadium – on what was Waterdon Road in Hackney Wick (and is now within the Olympic Park) was opened in 1932 and used for Greyhound Racing and the Speedway. In 1994 a £12 stand and restaurant was built and the stadium was renamed the London Stadium, Hackney. In December 1997 the company that owned the stadium, London Stadium Hackney Ltd, went out of business. The stadium was left derelict for several years until it was bought by the London Development Agency and demolished in 2003.

Photograph of the Royal Corps of Signal Display Team courtesy of John Skinner, www.defunctspeedway.co.uk

is area will become the site for the new 2012 Olympic Media and Broadcast Centre and after the Games, will be turned over for commercial use.

Hackney Marshes

 Hackney Marsh covers 339 acres of flat meadowland to the East of Hackney and alongside the River Lea it has a long history of Munitions and Lead Manufacturing from the early days of Lead Paint and crude munitions through to First World War “Projectiles” and the Matchbox die cast model factory which closed in 1990.

 The Marshes were drained during medieval times and in the late 1700’s a Roman Causeway was discovered. However the low lying area was victim to several floods and eventually in the 19^th century a canal system was developed which revealed a land rich in wildlife – attracted hunting parties which targeted the birds and rabbits. The sporting theme continued with bear baiting until later when they were replaced with rabbit coursing.

The London County Council bought the marshes for £75,000 in 1893 and they became part of the Lea Valley Park in 1967. They now play host to cricket, Hockey and Rugby and hold the world record for the most number of full sized football pitches in one place.

The East Marsh will be tarmaced and turned into a temporary disabled coach Park for the Olympics in 2012.  This has proved controversial with residents but in return for the inconvenience they have been promised that following on from the games there will be considerable investment to improve facilities  for amateur sport on the marshes.

Photograph of Hackney Marshes taken from The Topical Times Football book 1963-64 © D.C.Thomson&Co.,Ltd

And that concludes the first part of my history of the Olympic site. Come and check on my blog next week when I will look at the Stratford Railways Terminal that used to be where the present day Olympic stadium is plus the archaeological finds discovered round the Olympic Park with a focus on the Aquatic Centre area.

Peter

Today our final Big Issue vendor, Richard, shares a selection of the images he has taken capturing life on the streets of London as part of a joint project between the Museum of London and The Big Issue around our current London Street Photography exhibition.

Richard’s photographs now join those taken by Viv, Hazel and Mahesh with a number of images from across this project appearing in a forthcoming edition of The Big Issue. Images will then be selected to be displayed in the London Street Photography exhibition which continues until 3 September at the Museum of London.

The following five images from Richard highlight unguarded snapshots of moments that are in turn curious, busy, unusual, relaxed and, finally, tender.

“Curiosity”

“Rush hour on the bridge”

“Sound Man”

“Lovely day for a walk”

[no caption]

If you are interested in the Living in Victorian London project undertaken with Alastair Owens http://bit.ly/hfS8xE at the School of Geography at Queen Mary, University of London, then here is a list of outputs to date:

Project website: http://bit.ly/hInshX (needs updating!)

On BBC London’s Inside Out programme: http://bit.ly/7hpm8p (takes you to YouTube site)

Publications:

Owens, A, Jeffries, N, Wehner, K and Featherby, R, 2010, Fragments of  the modern city: material culture and rhythms of everyday life in Victorian London J Victorian Culture 15 (2), 212–225

Owens, A, Jeffries, N, Featherby, R, and Wehner, K, 2010 From the unusual to the banal; the archaeology of everyday life in Victorian London Research Matters 4

Owens, A., Jeffries, N., Hicks, D., Featherby, R. and Wehner, K. (2008) ‘Rematerialising metropolitan histories?: people, places and things in modern London’ in M. Palmer and A. Horning (eds) Crossing Paths, Sharing Tracks: Future Directions for Archaeological Study of post-1550 Britain and Ireland, Boydell and Brewer, Woodbridge

Today we bring you images taken by The Big Issue vendor Viv, who has over the last two weeks, as part of a project in conjunction with The Big Issue, been capturing life on London’s streets.  A selection of work  on this ongoing project will eventually be displayed in our London Street Photography exhibition.

This picture was taken at Embankment and Viv has added the following extract from her diary regarding help provided to the homeless in this area of London: “…one of the biggest soup runs in London [is located nearby] and they come out once a week and it’s run by the same family for the last 20 years or more.  The street people call it The Stew. 50 – 200 people come to get fed”.

This image is from East Street Market where,Viv comments in her diary: “Charlie Chaplin used to go there as he lived nearby”.

Viv’s travels took her to many different parts of London as captured in the photographs below:

Viv wanted to capture ” a variety of street life”  and ”really enjoyed the project and would have liked to have done it for longer!”

You can catch up on previous blog updates here from both Hazel and Mahesh.