London Before London
As the Museum of London launches its new Prehistory Gallery, its recently appointed Director, Jack Lohman, gives us his perspective on the challenges of bringing the distant past to life. Mr Lohman, a born Londoner, joined the Museum in August, moving from South Africa where he was responsible for developing a common vision for the country’s fifteen national museums.
History is often an impossible journey, a wandering through a puzzle that requires a Rosetta Stone to understand it. There can be no ‘authorised’ version, but many different versions and voices, accents and sounds telling the stories that are reflected in the contemporary world. Museums exist to ignite interest and they should inspire visitors to embark on their own journeys of discovery. Original artefacts are the storytellers and good gallery design and interpretation can play a crucial role in revealing what they have to say.
What better time to arrive at the Museum of London than now, as it opens ‘London Before London’, a new gallery that looks back over nearly half-a-million years of human life in the Thames valley, up to the arrival of the Romans. The Museum’s curators and design team have risen to the challenge of bringing this remote period of London’s history to life, stretching the imagination and making the unfamiliar accessible.
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