London Days Out | Opening spring 2027
As if a brand-new London Museum weren’t exciting enough, there’s a secret underneath it. The museum’s rediscovered network of underground vaults will open next spring with Londinium: the making of a Roman city, a free exhibition about the very first Londoners. Here are five things to know.
1. The vaults were found by accident
In 2019, builders renovating Smithfield’s Victorian General Market broke through a wall and found an 800 square metre network of underground vaults, thought to have been used for storage by the market and the nearby railway. Long abandoned, they’ve now been transformed into a new space for exhibitions and events.
2. Never-before-seen Roman treasures
The exhibition showcases the Bloomberg Collection, more than 14,000 artefacts unearthed beneath Bloomberg’s European headquarters between 2012 and 2014 and preserved in waterlogged soil. Highlights going on display for the first time include Roman wax writing tablets carrying London’s earliest surviving voices, an infant’s feeding bottle, a coin from Nero’s reign, and Britain’s earliest known cockroach eggs, found inside a Roman bakery oven.
3. Life in Londinium brought to life
Created with Journey, the design agency behind Lightroom, the exhibition uses projection and spatial soundscapes to transport you to the first 50 years of Roman London. It imagines the petty arguments, gossip and business deals of ordinary people as a rural landscape became a thriving city.
4. It’s free
Like the museum’s permanent galleries, Londinium will be free to visit, making it a brilliant day out for families and history lovers.
5. The museum opens first
The new London Museum opens on 28 November 2026, with Londinium following in spring 2027. Read our guide to the new London Museum. In the meantime, you can see earlier finds from the collection at the free London Mithraeum, a few streets away.
Info
Londinium: the making of a Roman city
London Museum, West Smithfield, London EC1A 9AG
Opening spring 2027 | Free
Nearest stations: Farringdon, Barbican and St Paul’s