The Museum Of London Museums

The Museum of London Group represents a quarter of a million years of history and over seven million modern Londoners. Our collections include over a million items. The Museum has seven permanent galleries that display a wealth of material from our collections.

The Museum of London is the world's largest urban history museum with 1.1 million objects and Europe's largest archaeological archive.

The Museum's collections are its richest resource. They contain the material remains of London's vast, complex past and are an inspirational source of knowledge. The Museum is committed to making its collections accessible to all who wish to learn from them.

Learn about the new trade with Asia and the Americas, and how in winter the river Thames froze so hard that fairs could be held on the ice. In the luxuriously painted and furnished Poyle Park Room you can glimpse how a wealthy merchant family would have lived at this time.

Admire the Lord Mayor's Coach a masterpiece of wood-carving, gilding and painting, built in 1757 and still rolled out every year for the Lord Mayor's Show. See also some reminders of the darker side of life: the sombre gates of Newgate Prison and a cell from Wellclose Square Prison. Upon the pine-wood walls dozens of prisoners have scratched their names.

Before you leave, use one of the interactive computers to take a more detailed look at 19th-century life through film sequences, over 500 images, and the descriptions of contemporary commentators. This multimedia experience is also on sale in the shop as a CD-ROM Journeys through Victorian London.