It’s so beautifully produced that you won’t realize until you’re back out on the street how slight the whole thing was. In the middle 3rrd century, Romans built a temple to Mithraism, a male-only religion now lost to time. The foundational ruins of the temple were lost, too, until 1954, when construction unearthed them. Moved twice since then, they’re now displayed a few meters from where they started in what’s now the sub-basement of 2017’s Bloomberg London building. You’re admitted by appointment in groups of around a dozen, shown a wall of some 600 Roman artifacts found here (and given a tablet, but not the time, to read all the overly simplified captions for them all), then brought downstairs, where the recorded super-elocution of Joanna Lumley prepares you for the ruins themselves, which you finally see for five minutes in the last stage, the “experience.” That’s when you stand on a catwalk around the rocks and they’re ingeniously lit with scrims of powerful light and you hear voices that simulate what a ceremony to Mithras might have been like. It’s all just a theatrical new way to make a ruin interesting. In truth, we barely know a thing about what happened here. But it’s presented with artistry, forethought, and a ton of money, and it’s a rare tangible reminder of a history that goes back two millennia right where you stand.
London
Travel Guide
London› Attraction
London Mithraeum
12 Walbrook, EC4
Our Rating
Neighborhood
The City
Hours
Tues–Sat 10am–6pm, Sun noon–5pm, first Thurs of month 10am–8pm
Transportation
Tube: Bank or Cannon Street
Prices
Free. Reservations required
Web site
London Mithraeum
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.