Banksy’s Piranhas has moved to London Museum after surprise City debut
Banksy’s Piranhas moved to London Museum after turning a quiet corner of Ludgate Hill into a pop-up gallery last summer. The City of London Police sentry box, sprayed with a shoal of piranhas and confirmed by the artist as his work, has been transferred into museum care and placed in secure storage for conservation before going on free public display at the new Smithfield site next year. Curators say the piece extends a line that runs from Roman graffiti to twenty-first-century street art.
The sentry box, which had stood since the 1990s, drew long queues when the City of London Corporation first moved it to Guildhall Yard behind barriers, then indoors to the Guildhall’s South Ambulatory. Its formal transfer into the collection is part of preparations for the new London Museum in Smithfield, where more than seven million objects tell the story of the city across 450,000 years. Project details are set out on the museum’s Smithfield pages.
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City leaders frame the move within Destination City, a plan to strengthen the Square Mile’s cultural pull and support jobs alongside neighbours such as the Barbican Centre. For Londoners, the upshot is simple: a once-ephemeral piece conserved for the long term, freely accessible and held in public trust.
Until doors open in Smithfield, the artwork will remain in controlled conditions before moving to a permanent gallery. Banksy’s Piranhas move to London Museum may lack the surprise of an overnight appearance, but it keeps the spirit of the moment that stopped City workers in their tracks, and ensures future visitors can see it without the risk that shadows so much street art.
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