London Museum has confirmed when it will open its new free permanent galleries in Smithfield’s General Market, marking the 50th anniversary of the world’s largest city museum following a £437m transformation.
Described as a “must visit destination”, London Museum will bring together thousands of years of history alongside a new social space for the city.
The opening in Smithfield’s General Market marks a new chapter for the world’s largest city museum and coincides with the museum’s 50th anniversary. It follows a £437m decade-long transformation of the historic Victorian market in one of the oldest parts of the capital, the City of London and brings the building to public use for the first time in more than 30 years.
“I hope our museum is a place where people can come together, feel at home, and find themselves grounded in the lives, treasures, challenges and innovations of this city’s vast history.”
Sharon Ament, director of the London Museum
London Museum’s new free permanent galleries will open on 28th November this year with display highlights including The Lord Mayor’s Coach, Banksy’s Piranhas artwork, Charles I’s execution vest, Emmeline Pankhurst’s hunger strike medal, the Whitechapel Fatberg, and Anna Pavlova’s ‘Dying Swan’ dress.
The adjacent Poultry Market will open in 2028, expanding the museum with two temporary exhibition spaces, a dedicated learning centre and a collections store.
A long undertaking - I hope we make Londoners proud!
More than seven million objects will be housed at the new museum, spanning 2,000 years of history with the Mayor London Sadiq Khan saying “nothing anywhere will match” the new attraction.
Sharon Ament, director of the London Museum said it had been a “long undertaking – not without its challenges but mostly filled with immense joy and hyper-creativity.”
She added: “At the beginning we asked ourselves how to be the best museum for London, the answer is, to be London itself, in all its grit and glitter. We’ve done it with the very best; designers, historians, curators, builders, architects, artists, poets, writers, creators to name a few, all are shapers of London.
“And the very best includes over 100,000 people who have contributed along the way. I hope our museum is a place where people can come together, feel at home, and find themselves grounded in the lives, treasures, challenges and innovations of this city’s vast history. Above all, I hope we make Londoners proud!”
Highlights of the new London Museum
- In the General Market, the museum will unfold across three interconnected spaces. Visitors will enter via Real Time (on Heritage Fund Street) – a covered former street that acts as the museum’s main entrance – with data capturing London in the moment.
- From there, they will move into Our Time (in the Linbury Hall), described as a vibrant central hub for events and activities, anchored by 13 large installations - eclectic objects from London in living memory. There will be artefacts linked to iconic Londoners and defining moments for the capital - including Tom Daley’s 2012 Olympic diving trunks, Queen Victoria’s mourning dress and Charles Dickens’ chair.
- Set amongst displays exploring London’s evolving landscape, a six-metre viewing window will offer visitors a world first museum experience: the chance to watch live trains rumble through the galleries as passengers peer in from the passing Thameslink line.
- Below ground, in the museum’s cavernous subterranean galleries, the permanent displays of Past Time will offer a compelling overview of London’s history through chronological and thematic displays.
- There will be objects from the museum’s eminent archaeological archive, including Roman writing tablets capturing the city’s earliest surviving voices.
- The tablets form part of The Bloomberg Collection, a world-renowned trove of more than 14,000 Roman artefacts, the largest archaeological deposition ever gifted to the museum.
- In The Goldsmiths’ Gallery, the glittering Cheapside Hoard, one of the most significant collections of Elizabethan and Jacobean jewellery, will be shown in the fullest display of the hoard ever assembled.
A significant moment for London and the world
The London Museum project has been developed through a partnership between the City of London Corporation and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, alongside support from a range of philanthropic supporters including Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Goldsmiths’ Foundation, The Linbury Trust and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said the opening “will be a hugely significant moment both for London and internationally.”
He added: “Backed by one of the largest ever cultural investments in our capital, London Museum will attract millions of visitors and Londoners and reinforce our status as the culture capital of the world.
“London Museum celebrates the past, creates opportunities in the present and will inspire future generations, as we continue to build a better London for everyone.”
For more information about London Museum, including announcements about galleries and exhibitions, visit londonmuseum.org.uk/smithfield.
