London Museum to open Londinium, Roman London exhibition, in rediscovered vaults
London Museum will open the doors to a previously unseen part of its new Smithfield home in spring 2027, when Londinium: the making of a Roman city becomes the first exhibition staged inside a rediscovered network of underground vaults.
The free experience will explore the first 50 years of Roman London through archaeological discoveries from the Bloomberg Collection, using projection, spatial sound, and sensory storytelling to recreate a settlement shaped by trade, conflict, and opportunity.
Rather than focusing solely on major historical figures, the exhibition will bring everyday life in Londinium into view. More than a decade of research into the collection has helped archaeologists build a picture of a rapidly changing community, from business dealings and family life to the arguments and gossip of people living in the emerging city.
Among the objects being displayed publicly for the first time are Roman wax writing tablets, which preserve some of London’s earliest surviving written voices. Other finds include an infant feeding bottle, a coin from the reign of Emperor Nero, and what is described as Britain’s earliest known example of Eurasian cockroach eggs, found inside a Roman bakery oven.
The objects were recovered during excavations at Bloomberg’s European headquarters between 2012 and 2014. More than 14,000 significant artefacts were uncovered, creating one of the richest archaeological records of early Roman Britain. Bloomberg Philanthropies gifted the collection to London Museum in 2025.
The exhibition has been created with experience design agency Journey, while Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) led the original excavation. It follows the opening of London Mithraeum in 2017, which brought part of the collection to public attention through the remains of a Roman temple dedicated to Mithras.
The underground vaults themselves were rediscovered in 2019, when builders working on the museum’s redevelopment uncovered an 800-square-metre network behind a wall. Once used for storage by Smithfield Market and the nearby railway, the spaces have now been adapted for exhibitions, experiences, and events.
London Museum will open to the public on 28 November 2026. Londinium: the making of a Roman city will follow in spring 2027.
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