EVERDERAME: day 23

Day 23

It was a sunny Sunday (!), and I decided go to the Museum of London. One thing leads to other: as I have found a very mysterious little building on the Grosvenor Park near to Victoria Station on Friday, and I had the impression – by the style of the construction and the ornaments that it could be an ancient Roman little chapel, or something like that, I started browsing in the internet for it. I could find no information about, but descovered that in fact there is remains of an old temple in London and some pieces of it in the Museum of London. Even better, the museum have a whole area dedicated to the remains of London before the Romans. So again I feel that there were something to me there.

ST.PAUL'S CATHEDRAL

St. Paul's Cathedral

As the museum is quite close to the Saint Paul Cathedral, I could take a long walk around the Thames and visit the Cathedral too. The Cathedral was rebuilt after the fire of 1666 by Christopher Wren and despite of the classical approach is the most important Baroque monument of London. English architecture never were very fond on Baroque style, for it was when the Church of England was trying to establish its own concepts based on reformist ideals. Excesses and exuberance definitely were not the way of that era. However the mixture of classical proportions, hugeness and baroque light and shadow is an interesting one, and somehow precursor of the Neoclassical movement.

THE MUSEUM OF LONDON

The Museum of London, just a few blocks from there is very modern, like the area surrounding it. It is being restored so only a section of the collection is on show at the moment, but the “London before the Romans” was there.

There is a good display of information and artifacts, and all sort of remains, since actual skulls and bones to stone flints and bronze hand axes.

objects found in thames banks shows that there were people living there long before the romans arrive

religious statuary in ancient london

ceremonial axes of polished flint

burial ceramic pots with decoration, part of neolithic burial ceremony

It is interesting to learn that despite of what is claimed, there were people living in the banks of Thames since a long time ago, and sure enough, they have met the Romans.

The Romans arrived in England in 43AD, and their first capital was Colchester, but soon they started to build a new city along the Thames. The name London (or Londinium) was a native one so it is quite right to assume that not only Britains been in peaceful contact with them, as the Romans influenced and were influenced by them. How it was this first meet in unknown, but sure enough at some point there were resistance. The first Roman settlement were completely destroyed in the year 60 AD by the Queen Boudica from the Iceni, a tribus at North East of London, with the Trinovantes of Essex. Together they burnt and destroyed three Roman settlements in retaliation for their abuses.

findings along the thames includes bronze axes, the shield and the helmet shown at british museum (replicas)

London were rebuilt and flourished as a trade city and Roman capital for other 400 years, when the Romans left England. I could not find much information about the little building at Grosvenor, but could actually find a Sarcophagus of a young lady which similar shell patterns in it, so maybe I am not totally wrong.

roman sarcophagus of young lady found in london, with patterns of shells and "X"

Norman carving quite similar to the one close to St. Non's

I could find a Norman pattern carved in a stone that resemble to one that I found close to Saint Non’s church, so I think they can be related.

The museum goes on along the history, from the black plague, the great fire of London, to the religious Reform and the civil war. I always have the feeling I have a lot to learn here.

the black plague of the 14th century decimated the population of europe and been specially lethal in england, where it killed approximately half of london's population