The restored Roman remains of the London Mithraeum in the City have been seen by half a million people since it opened in 2017, the Mithraeum has announced.
The Mithraeum was originally uncovered in 1952 but spent several decades in a rather uninspiring display around the corner from where it was found in a setting that made it look more like a 1970s municipal rock garden than an important piece of Roman London history.
Fortunately, when the old 1960s offices were demolished to be replaced with the massive Bloomberg Building, it was agreed that the Mithraeum would be restored to its original location.
What was always a slightly subterranean temple to the god Mithras is now a deeply buried space in a basement below the street level, and cleverly a visit isn’t just a look at a pile of stones but also an experience with clever lighting to recreate the missing building.
There’s also a ground floor exhibition of the Roman artifacts discovered during the original excavation, and in the same entrance, usually a changing contemporary art exhibition.
The Mithraeum is open Tues to Sun (closed on Monday) and late to 8pm on the first Thursday of the month.
The museum is free to visit, and although you don’t need to book a ticket, they recommend that you do in order to ensure you can visit in case you turn up at the same time as a group and can’t get in.
The Mithraeum can be found close to Bank tube and Cannon Street stations.
I went in 2018 and can thoroughly recommend it – if you are interested in the history of London and/or Roman Britain this should be right up your street.
Having followed the development closely from its inception and been to the press preview of the finished scheme – chaired by Michael Bloomberg himself – I found it well-intentioned and effective but onlu up to a point. But have a read for the full story: https://www.chrismrogers.net/citybloomberg
We have been and have recommended it to all our friends, every one of whom has come away impressed and recommended it to all their friends. And its free. Yes there are some reservations about the backstory but it incorporates a really good mix of the historical with a modern art gallery havent been already do visit.