Roman London

The Roman Empire was one of the largest and most influential empires in history. It spread far beyond Italy and Northern Africa, all the way to Britain. Britain was part of the Roman Empire for almost four centuries, from AD 43 to around AD 410. Just like in modern times, London, also known as Londinium, was Britain’s capital and the most influential city in Britain for the Romans. The history of Roman London can be seen throughout the city, especially in The City of London. In The City, there is an amphitheatre, remnants of the London Wall, and many more. London museums, specifically Museum of London and the British Museum, illustrate Roman London in two different, but effective manners. The Museum of London takes a theatrical approach while

Since the room is not specifically about Roman London, it takes away some of the familiarity that the Museum of London portrays in its gallery. Unlike the Museum of London, this room is set up like a traditional museum exhibition – artefacts in glass cases with labels filled with information, quiet, academic atmosphere. There is no set narrative in the room, so it is up to the person in the room to create their own Roman Britain story. Since it is a large room and it is not set up in a specific way, the visitor can easily miss an important aspect of Roman Britain. For example, towards the back of the room and to the left, there is a case on preventive medicine and medical treatment, but many people miss it because it’s not in the middle. Another difference the British Museum has from the Museum of London is that the British Museum has a much more academic approach to the way they portray Roman Britain. There are not any interactive screens or any theatrical reconstructions – just artefacts in cases with a lot of information. The British Museum wants to show people the beautiful and important artefacts from Roman Britain instead of telling the story of this time

The Museum of London has reconstructions of a Roman London home and of a Londinium street. The house showcases the kitchen, living room, and bedroom areas with other artefacts found by the museum arranged to have the appearance it would have had during the AD 300s. The house has tile flooring similar to old Roman tile. It’s an immersive experience with audio and video throughout the section. There are booklets where you can look at Roman recipes and read about the way the Romans would entertain people. The street reconstruction is based on ‘excavations near the forum in Whittington Avenue and at Newgate Street.’ The street has recreations of Roman shops, like the fish shop and glass shop. These reconstructions add to the theatrical nature of the exhibition because the visitor can simulate what it felt like live and shop as a Londinium civilian. In the Roman Gallery, there are models of Londinium, the public bath houses, and the water mill/port. There are a few models throughout the section. There’s a model of Londinium as a whole, a model of a water mill and the port,