Museum of London

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  • Mon-Sat 10:00 - 17:50 , Sun 12:00 - 17:50

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Lonely Planet review

The Museum of London is one of the capital's best museums but remains largely off the radar for most visitors. That's not surprising when you consider that it's encased in concrete and located above a roundabout in the Barbican. Despite this, once you're inside it's a fascinating walk through the various incarnations of the capital from Anglo-Saxon village to global financial centre.

The newest gallery, called London Before London, outlines the development of the Thames Valley from 450 million years ago. Harnessing computer technology to enliven its exhibits and presenting impressive fossils and stone axe heads in shiny new cases, it somehow feels less warm and colourful than the more-established displays. In these you begin with the city's Roman era and move anticlockwise through the Saxon, medieval, Tudor and Stuart periods. Continuing down a ramp and past the ornate Lord Mayor's state coach, this history continues progressively until 1914, although at the time of writing the galleries were being expanded and improved to take visitors up to the present day. The finished galleries are due to open in late 2009.

Aside from the magnificently OTT state coach, highlights include the 4th-century lead coffin, skeleton and reconstructed face of a well-to-do young Roman woman whose remains were discovered in Spitalfields in 1999; the Cheapside Hoard, an amazing find of 16th- and 17th- century jewellery; the lo-fi but heartfelt Great Fire of London diorama, narrated from the renowned diary of Samuel Pepys; and a timeline of London's creeping urbanisation during the 18th and 19th centuries. There are two mock-ups of city streets: one represents Roman London, the other is called Victorian Walk and harks back to the 19th century (although Leadenhall Market, creates a slightly less authentic, but more lively Victorian feeling).

You can pause for a breather in the pleasant garden in the building's central courtyard or head for the adjoining Museum Café, which serves light meals from to (from on Sunday). Alternatively, on a sunny day, pack some sandwiches and lunch in the next-door Barber Surgeon's Herb Garden.

When arriving, look for the Barbican's gate seven; before leaving, don't forget to have a browse through the well-stocked bookshop and check what the temporary exhibits are as these tend to be some of London's more interesting.