Last night saw the official opening by The London Spy and William Austen of Eastern City BID of London’s newest, and smallest, museum beside The Monument in the City of London.
This new, free cultural attraction exploring the history of the Great Fire of London opens to the public from the 21st October.
The Monument Micro Museum, commissioned by Eastern City BID, tells the story of the Great Fire through a 3D map of old London, brought to life with bespoke lighting and audio.
At just 4 square metres internally, the Micro Museum is small by name and small by nature, but makes the most of its distinctive location in the middle of Monument Square. The unique building, located directly beside The Monument itself, was in-part a former public toilet. Scheduled for eventual demolition as part of emerging redevelopment plans, the mothballed space had no plans to be reactivated, until Eastern City BID identified its potential as a museum, and funded its transformation into a new cultural attraction.
The museum is the first dedicated to telling the story of the Great Fire of London, offering visitors a new way to understand the event that destroyed much of the City and shaped the London that followed. Alongside a looping 5 minute audio/visual experience, it also features new displays around the building’s entire external walls, extending the museum experience beyond its tiny interior.
With the Great Fire forming part of the National Curriculum, the museum is designed to appeal to school groups as well as the millions of people who visit the City each year. As a free attraction open daily to the public, the museum is expected to welcome over 100,000 visitors a year.
The curation of the museum was generously provided free of charge by Winkle Picker Ltd and Sugar HK, with historic images provided in collaboration with the London Archives.
It is also the City of London’s first new museum in almost a decade, and opens ahead of the 350th anniversary of The Monument next year.
William Austin, Cultural Partnerships Manager at Eastern City BID, said:
“The Great Fire is one of the defining moments in the history of our capital, yet there has never been a museum dedicated to telling its story. I wanted to create something that was small in scale but big in impact, giving people a new way to understand what happened here 360 years ago.
“At only 4 square metres, I believe it is the smallest museum in the world, but that was part of the challenge. How can investment from Eastern City BID bring empty spaces, even tiny ones like this, back to life? The building has a fantastic location right beside The Monument, and will now provide a public benefit to both local workers, and visitors to the City of London.”
The Monument Micro Museum is free to visit and open daily from 10:00am to 5:30pm, complementing visits to The Monument and the surrounding area.