Did you know that beneath the Guildhall Art Gallery are the remains of London ancient Roman Amphitheatre which was discovered during the excavations beneath Guildhall in 1988.
The Ceremony of the Keys is the traditional locking up of the Tower of London and has taken place on each and every night, without fail, for at least 700 years.
Set immediately north of the Tower of London, right in the heart of Tower Hill, stands one of the most substantial and impressive surviving sections of the London Wall. Built around AD 200, the Roman wall not only provided defence and security to the citizens of London, but also represented the status of the city itself.
The Charterhouse is a former Carthusian monastery in London, to the north of what is now Charterhouse Square.
The Priory Church of Saint Bartholomew the Great is London's oldest surviving church. Founded in 1123 as an Augustinian Priory, it has been in continuous use since 1143. It is an active Anglican/Episcopal Church located in the part of London known as The City.
Anyone visiting London for the first time and walking along the Thames Embankment may be surprised to come across an original Egyptian obelisk.
The Petrie Museum houses an estimated 80,000 objects, making it one of the greatest collections of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology in the world.
Did you know that beneath the Guildhall Art Gallery are the remains of London ancient Roman Amphitheatre which was discovered during the excavations beneath Guildhall in 1988.
The Ceremony of the Keys is the traditional locking up of the Tower of London and has taken place on each and every night, without fail, for at least 700 years.
Set immediately north of the Tower of London, right in the heart of Tower Hill, stands one of the most substantial and impressive surviving sections of the London Wall. Built around AD 200, the Roman wall not only provided defence and security to the citizens of London, but also represented the status of the city itself.
The Charterhouse is a former Carthusian monastery in London, to the north of what is now Charterhouse Square.
The Priory Church of Saint Bartholomew the Great is London's oldest surviving church. Founded in 1123 as an Augustinian Priory, it has been in continuous use since 1143. It is an active Anglican/Episcopal Church located in the part of London known as The City.
Anyone visiting London for the first time and walking along the Thames Embankment may be surprised to come across an original Egyptian obelisk.
This obelisk is known as Cleopatra's Needle …though it has very little to do with Cleopatra at all.
It was made in Egypt for the Pharaoh Thotmes III in 1460 BC, making it almost 3,500 years old. It is known as Cleopatra's Needle as it was brought to London from Alexandria, the royal city of Cleopatra.
It seems Britain wanted something big and noticeable to commemorate the British victory over Napoleon, sixty-three years earlier. The Needle arrived in England after a horrendous journey by sea in 1878.
The British public subscribed £15,000 to bring it over from Alexandria in Egypt, and waited eagerly for the 'needle' to arrive.
Cleopatra's Needle stands on the Thames Embankment close to the Embankment underground station. Two large bronze Sphinxes lie on either side of the Needle. These are Victorian versions of the traditional Egyptian original. The benches on the Embankment also have winged sphinxes on either side as their supports.
There are four plaques mounted round the base of the Obelisk giving a brief history of the 'needle' and its journey to London.
The Petrie Museum houses an estimated 80,000 objects, making it one of the greatest collections of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology in the world. It illustrates life in the Nile Valley from prehistory through the time of the pharaohs, the Ptolemaic, Roman and Coptic periods to the Islamic period.
The Petrie Museum is a university museum. It was set up as a teaching resource for the Department of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology at University College London (UCL). Both the department and the museum were created in 1892 through the bequest of the writer Amelia Edwards (1831-1892).
Amelia Edwards donated her collection of several hundred Egyptian antiquities, many of historical importance. However, the collection grew to international stature in scope and scale thanks mainly to the extraordinary excavating career of the first Edwards Professor, William Flinders Petrie (1853-1942).
Petrie retired from UCL in 1933, though his successors continued to add to the collections, excavating in other parts of Egypt and the Sudan. During the Second World War (1939-1945) the collection was packed up and moved out of London for safekeeping. In the early 1950s it was brought back and housed ‘temporarily’ in a former stable building, where it remains today.
The museum is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 1pm until 5pm, check out the website for the latest exhibitions.
Be part of the 700 year old ancient ceremony!
Tickets are issued free of charge but, due to the popularity of the ceremony, it is necessary to book as far in advance as is possible.
Tickets can only be booked online.
The Ceremony of the Keys is the traditional locking up of the Tower of London and has taken place on each and every night, without fail, for at least 700 years. The importance of securing the fortress for the night is still very relevant because, although the Monarch no longer resides at this royal palace, the Crown Jewels and many other valuables still do!
Set immediately north of the Tower of London, right in the heart of Tower Hill, stands one of the most substantial and impressive surviving sections of the London Wall. Built around AD 200, the Roman wall not only provided defence and security to the citizens of London, but also represented the status of the city itself.
Once around two and a half miles long, over time it was modified, adapted and added to, before finally being obscured and partially destroyed as new buildings were constructed around it. Today however, many of the buildings which had formerly hidden it have been cleared away, and visitors to the site can enjoy a clear view of the monument that defined both the size and shape of the city for over a millennium.
