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Press releases
- Arsenal’s captain donates Black Lives Matter shirt to the Museum of London
- Public statement October 2020
- Dub London: Bassline of a City opening 2 October at the Museum of London
- New major exhibition Havering Hoard: A Bronze Age Mystery opens 11 September at the Museum of London Docklands
- Museum of London releases first ever recorded soundscapes of London alongside new recordings of London in lockdown as part of Collecting COVID project
- Museum of London sites to reopen 6 August with four-week extension of The Clash: London Calling display
- The Museum of London collects shared experiences of Ramadan in lockdown as part of Collecting COVID project
- Unheard oral histories are released by the Museum of London to mark Windrush Day
- Public statement
- Robert Milligan statue statement
- Collecting Covid: the Museum of London seeks to mark unprecedented pandemic for the future
- Millicent Fawcett’s ‘Steadfastness and Courage’ brooch to go on permanent display for the first time
- King Charles I’s execution vest to go on display in new major exhibition
- Museum of London submits plans to create a new world-class cultural destination in West Smithfield
- Museum of London to celebrate Dub Reggae and its influence on the capital
- East End bastion Syd’s coffee stall to be donated to the Museum of London
- Free exhibit celebrating the making of The Clash’s ground-breaking album ‘London Calling’ now open
- The largest ever Bronze Age hoard in London has been discovered
- Museum of London acquires extremely rare plate that belonged to Samuel Pepys
- The story of the Krios of Sierra Leone to be told in the Museum of London Docklands’ latest display
- Museum of London to host The Clash: London Calling exclusive free exhibit of over 100 personal items
- Designs for Museum of London’s new West Smithfield home revealed
- Smithfield Street Party
- Museum of London hopes to acquire both the Trump Baby Blimp and the Sadiq Khan Blimp as part of their permanent collection
- Secret Rivers
- Beasts of London
- Recently acquired panorama goes on display for the first time at the Museum of London
- Earliest skull ever mudlarked from the Thames to go on display at the Museum of London
- Museum of London appoints leading names to Board of Governors
- “Reputational whitewashing” investigated in latest display at the Museum of London Docklands.
- Museum of London acquires beautiful panorama of lost Houses of Parliament
- Bengali arts and culture on show at the Museum of London Docklands family festival.
- Young Londoners to take over Museum of London this March
- Treasured children’s author Jacqueline Wilson’s latest book Wave Me Goodbye inspires family day at the Museum of London Docklands
- Adventures in Peter Pan’s Neverland at Museum of London Docklands
- Museum of London Docklands celebrates Chinese New Year this February half term
- Museum of London Docklands to showcase rare Roman sarcophagus in first public display
- Taste not waste: Be inspired by unique recipes using your leftover food for a more sustainable future London
- Whitechapel’s famous monster fatberg is coming to the Museum of London
- An Idea for a Future London open call winner announced
- London Visions: Hypothetical scenarios of a future London
- Smithfield street party: Museum of London celebrates 150 years of Smithfield markets
- Technology replacing jobs won’t halt our working spirit
- Learn how to code like a pro and celebrate digital technology at the Museum of London’s free family festival
- Votes for Women programme
- All aboard for the Maritime music festival
- New display reveals complex history of British Army’s West India Regiments
- Paddington returns to Museum of London
- Bonus Levels: Artist Lawrence Lek invites viewers to re-imagine future London
- The Museum of London hopes to acquire Whitechapel 'fatberg'
- The City is Ours: A Tale of New Cities
- Tracking London’s most talked about topics and emojis
- London Nights: Museum of London unveils the city at night in major photography exhibition
- Statement on 20 May 2017
- Digital visions of London, faces of the capital photographed and portrait painting in exchange for a favour
- What does the future hold for London and cities around the world?
- Museum of London releases third and final Great Fire 1666 Minecraft map
- Museum of London acquires 100 menswear items worn by townscape consultant Francis Golding
- 8,000 years of human history on display at the Museum of London Docklands
- Museum of London displays recently acquired Sutherland drawings in new exhibition of Blitz artwork
- Mayor of London and City of London Corporation pledge support for new Museum of London at West Smithfield
- City Now City Future: a conversation about the past, present and future of our cities
- Rare tools give insight into working lives of Roman Londoners at the Museum of London
- New display at the Museum of London traces the capital’s obsession with ice skating
- Historic vessels Knocker White and Varlet set sail to new home at Trinity Buoy Wharf
- Missing Bake Off? Take your taste buds back in time with 17th century gingerbread
- Rare Victoria Cross with mysterious story to go on display at the Museum of London
- Museum of London x Craft Central pop-up opens for Christmas 2016
- Museum of London boosts Great Fire collections with mysterious manuscript
- After dark at The Night Museum
- New display about the life of ‘The Royal African’ and the slave trade
- Joe Corré, Jordan and Richard Boon to appear in an uncensored, live Punk.London debate
- People of Punk bring the year of celebration to an end
- Tunnel: the archaeology of Crossrail
- New archaeological exhibition opens at the Museum of London
- New research to shed fresh light on the impact of industrialisation
- Our statement on Fabric
- New Great Fire website to mark 350th anniversary
- Museum of London sets the City on fire with second Great Fire 1666 Minecraft map
- Skeletons: Our Buried Bones
- Behind the Scenes of the Museum of London
- Met Police’s Crime Museum revealed at Museum of London
- Stanton Williams and Asif Khan to design new Museum of London at West Smithfield
- Rare George Cross medal goes on display at the Museum of London Docklands
- Museum of London opens most theatrical exhibition ever to mark 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London
- Museum of London uses Minecraft to recreate the Great Fire of 1666
- Sir Edward Lister joins Museum of London Board of Governors
- 17th century fire engine restored for Great Fire exhibition
- Design concepts for new museum at West Smithfield revealed
- Hello London, Hello Barbados
- Stomping Grounds: Dick Scott-Stewart photographs on display
- Legendary London Stone installed at the Museum of London
- West Smithfield Design Competition shortlist announced
- Museum of London launches new website to increase visits and ticket sales
- Photography of Londoners and their pastimes on show at Museum of London
- Never-before-seen archaeological artefacts from forthcoming exhibition, Fire! Fire! unveiled
- Another record-breaking year for the Museum of London
- Looking for Londoners and Show Space
- West Smithfield International Design Competition launched
- Museum of London bolsters its art collections
- Five Museum of London apprentices appointed
- Malcolm Reading Consultants appointed to run West Smithfield International Design Competition
- Major new gallery at Museum of London Docklands explores history of the world's largest docks
Never-before-seen archaeological artefacts from forthcoming exhibition, Fire! Fire! unveiled
10 March 2016
Fire! Fire!
Museum of London
23 July 2016 – 17 April 2017
Sponsored by Eversheds
Today, the Museum of London revealed further details about its forthcoming major exhibition, Fire! Fire!, opening this July.
Marking the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, the exhibition will focus on life on the eve of the fire, the dramatic events that took place as the blaze burned through a quarter of the city in 1666, and how London recovered from the devastation. As one of London’s most enduringly popular historical events, Fire! Fire! is expected to have broad appeal, especially with families and school groups.
Fire! Fire! is designed to be one of the Museum of London’s most immersive and interactive exhibitions to date, with setworks to recreate Pudding Lane and a huge moving panorama of London in flames. A variety of incredibly fragile flame-scarred archaeological artefacts reveal the destructive power of the inferno, while letters from eyewitnesses who escaped convey the terror and desperation that ordinary Londoners felt in the face of the fire.
Highlights announced today include:
- A ceramic roof tile which should be flat and terracotta in colour has blackened, melted and bent in half. The damage shows that temperatures must have been over 1500oC. The tile was found in excavations of a house on Botolph Lane that had been destroyed by the fire.
- Burnt padlocks and keys made from iron, found at Monument House excavations on Botolph Lane, near Pudding Lane.
- A letter written by “sorrowful” James Hicks on 4 September 1666 to inform postmasters of the “great loss and sufferings” from the fire. James Hicks worked at the post office in the City which burnt down shortly after 1am on 3 September. He and his family escaped to Barnet, taking as many letters as they could.
- A letter written by Robert Flatman on 9 September 1666 to his brother Thomas, a barrister who worked in the city but was out of town for the fire. Robert writes “your Chamber in the Temple is down, but your books are safe”, suggesting that he saved these items before Thomas’ rooms at the Temple were destroyed.
Sharon Ament, Director of the Museum of London, said:
“Fire! Fire! showcases the very best of the Museum of London. Given our mission to tell the story of the world’s greatest city and its people, it is only right that we honour the anniversary of the Great Fire of London, a truly iconic moment in London’s history, with a major exhibition which will be a great day out for adults and children alike.”
Meriel Jeater, Great Fire of London exhibition curator, said:
“As one of London’s most famous historical disasters, people often assume that there is nothing new to discover about the Great Fire of London. In fact, there are still numerous unconfirmed hypotheses about how and why the fire started, as well as a number of myths that have built up over the years. We seek to shed new light on the events of September 1666 with our rich collections of never-before-seen 17th century archaeological artefacts.”
Pamela Thompson, London Senior Office Partner at Eversheds, said:
“It is important to recognise the role the Museum of London plays in the Capital and the extensive work it does, not just as a museum showcasing our wonderful history, but in its work with Londoners and schoolchildren across the city. The 350 th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, and the legacy of that event in the Capital’s history, is one that we see as resonating in the challenges and opportunities for present day London and its place in the global economy. Our sponsorship will help us, with the Museum of London, explore the challenges of housing, infrastructure and investment as well as the new opportunities London can leverage to build on its long history of change and adaptation and set this against the background of the immense challenges it faced after the Great Fire and those it still faces today.”
Fire! Fire! is part of Great Fire 350, a programme of events and activities in partnership with the City of London Corporation, Barbican, Artichoke and others to mark the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London. Further information on the exhibition and wider programme will be announced in 2016.
Fire! Fire! runs from 23 July 2016 – 17 April 2017 and will be accompanied by a programme of talks and events. Tickets priced from £8 for adults and £5 for children online, family tickets are available.
Further information: www.museumoflondon.org.uk/greatfire
#FireFire
-ENDS-
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The Museum of London tells the ever-changing story of this great world city and its people, from 450,000 BC to the present day. Our galleries, exhibitions, displays and activities seek to inspire a passion for London and provide a sense of the vibrancy that makes the city such a unique place.
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