London Pride: £20m revamp brings capital's museum up to date

Five new galleries will open at the Museum of London next week as part of a £20 million redevelopment to chart the ‘modern’ history of Britain’s capital and bring the museum up to date.

More than 7,000 objects, spanning the 344 years since the Great Fire in 1666, will go on show alongside interactive exhibits and film, in order to “transport visitors through London’s tumultuous history, rich with drama, triumph and near disaster.”

Step inside an 18th Century debtor’s jail, replete with scratched graffiti on its dingy walls; check where your street ranks on Charles Booth’s 1889 colour-coded map of poverty in London; or risk the Blitz-era bomb in the museum’s war room.

Click here or on the image above for a preview of the Galleries of Modern London

“The Galleries of Modern London breathe new life into the museum, with extraordinary elevations flooding spaces with light and bringing our story of the greatest city in the world right up to date,” Professor Jack Lohman, director of the Museum of London, said.

But it’s not just about London’s past. The exhibition also provides a conceptual look at the capital’s future if the current rate of climate change continues.

The Galleries of Modern London open on the 28th May 2010. Museum of London is open daily 10am to 6pm and admission is free. www.museumoflondon.org.uk