August 2023 Part One - Another Roman Treasure!

 August was a strange month, without having to be at work, I felt like the passage of time was off. I was able to do anything and everything that I wanted to, but in terms of having a routine, it was non-existent! In some way's it was quite nice, in other ways, it was confusing and at times I had no idea what day it was or what I was supposed to be doing! It was however, a great time to catch up on things that I never normally had much time to do while working.

I finally got round to building some lego I had brought during the Lunar New Year, this one is of a money tree, it was fiddly and took a while but I was impressed with how nice it looked. I've added it to the shelf with the other models. Lego is fun, this was the right size for me, but James a couple of years ago got me a one of the Great pyramid at Giza, and it took hours to do, and was so fiddly & complex I think it caused me more stress than it did enjoyment! 

Being at home more meant that not only could I indulge in my hobbies of reading, blogging & playing games, but I could also help James with his phone cards. For anyone unaware of them, they were cards that came pre loaded with money on them that you would insert into a public phone to make a call with, rather than using cash. I suppose in a way they predate using cards for everything like we do now. He's got a large collection that grows and shrinks depending on how much he has sold and how much he has brought. A new box to sort had arrived, and I dutifully broke it down into groups. I started with separating BT cards from Mercury cards, and then broke each of those piles down into countries, and then attempted to group the same sets together. I don't always get it right, but with two of us working through it, it greatly reduces the time taken. Plus I get to enjoy the nice ones, like this fantastic set of the churches of Jersey. It's a really lovely set, and beautifully detailed!

We also had a day up on London together, where we visited an exhibition in the British Museum about the silk road, as well as the history of both China and Persia. I think something that links both cultures is the level of details and design in their crafts. I mean look at this textile, it's beautifully weaved on silk, with the crafted Arabic lettering across it in multiple colours. Something we often forget is how much time and effort it takes for textiles, and how rarely they are preserved. You look at the Bayeux Tapestry for example, we have multiple castles, earthworks and even armour surviving from the time, but out of all the textiles & cloth that the Normans & the time produced, only the tapestry and a few small scraps survive. Often it would have taken longer to make the textiles than it would have done to build a castle, hence why they are so precious & important! 

A fantastic detailed drawing of a stately home and it's gardens, note the outlines of red on the buildings & bridges

The Chinese part of the exhibition was very interesting, it talked both about China's history, but it also spoke about the Opium wars, something I'd not heard much about before. The First Opium War had far reaching impacts, after years of trade and increasing exports of Chinese products to the west, including opium, tensions had been rising between the British Empire and the Qing Dynasty resulted in all out war in 1839. It was a humiliating defeat for the Qing Dynasty, forced to sign a treaty, which believe it or not still affects people today. The most interesting part of the treaty was the fact that China had to hand over Hong Kong to the British Empire, which remained a British Territory until 1997. The fact it was run so differently to mainland China and how it has been re-incorporated back into the Chinese nation is a continuing source of tension and controversy, even today in 2026!

There were other interesting exhibits, like this beautiful painted screen with flowers and birds. The attention to detail on this was phenomenal, and I couldn't take my eyes of it! Do you think they would loan it to me? It was look sublime in the hallway at home! 

While the exhibition has now finished and moved on (I am still a couple of years behind on the blog, I do apologise and I'm working hard to get back to the present day) there are frequent exhibitions at the British Museum. Some you have to pay for entry to, or book a time slot for, but if you're a member of the museum then you can go in for free. Find out what's on at the moment via their website @britishmuseum.org

We then also had a little wander around the museum, and I spotted these gorgeous clay bowls with the circular design in different colours on them. Just look at how finely made they were! And to think, these would have been made by hand. I'd love to learn how to make pottery, I don't think I'd be very good at it, but at least if I tried to make something it would confirm that I am indeed terrible at making things! 

We then hopped on the bus just down the road from the museum, and headed over to the London Mithraeum. Here's something that was very different to what I expected. It's free to visit, and we walked in, and were told we had a few minutes to wait until the experience started. When I heard that, I thought we were going to see a re-enactment of a Mithraic worship or something like that. So we had a little walk around the museum, and got to see some of the exhibits found during excavations, before going downstairs to where the Mithraeum is.

A close up of some of the exposed Roman brickwork

We all sort of came in, and I started to have a good look around, before the guide told us the show was about to begin. I was excited to see the Centurians come in. But instead, we got an interesting light & sound show. I think that needed to be explained in a little more detail. I was waiting for someone to come out in costume. Instead, light beams showed up what it would have looked like in it's prime, while the sounds of the temple played. In hindsight, it was actually quite powerful, and rather interesting. It was a rather innovative experience, and one I think I would like to visit again.

Once the show finished, you were then free to have a wander around the outside of the temple. It was certainly the most complete Mithraeum I'd ever seen! The temple had originally been excavated in the 1950's when they were demolishing bombed out ruins of the building above to build new office blocks. It was then relocated and sort of forgotten about once the huge hype around it had finished. Then, the office blocks were demolished, and Bloomberg build a new office complex, incorporating the Mithraeum into it's original location. I think we are always a little weary when a big corporation wishes to run something like this, there always feels like an ulterior motive. But I don't think a museum would have had the funds or the capability to do such a project. It's free to enter, and it's very well done. So hopefully Bloomberg will keep it well looked after. If you want to learn a bit more about the Mithraeum, you can check out their website @londonmithraeum.com, and there was also this interesting BBC News video that I also discovered, which tells you a bit more about the history @youtube.com/watch?v=44PQpQm_Rf0

The area is also known for the discovery of wooden writing tablets. Nicknamed the Bloomberg Tablets, they are second only the ones discovered at Vindolanda in number (which I saw only a few weeks ago!). After several years of research, it's also been discovered that they are not only predate the Vindolanda Tablets, but also are the oldest pieces of Roman writing in the UK. They are also noticeable for the first recorded use of the name for London, Londinium, as well as giving us possibly the earliest names, financial records and laws of Roman Britain. Similarly to Vindolanda, the waterlogged soils reduced the amount of oxygen present, helping to preserve the tablets.

I think so far this year I'd seen & learnt more about the Romans' than I had my whole life, and it was something I wanted to keep going with! It's a time period that I'm most interested in, although I also love the Middle Ages & Victorian periods too. I think most people are like that, I know my Mum loves the Edwardian and World War Two periods, Nan loves the Tudors.  Funny isn't it, how certain periods appeal to us and not others.

We came out of the Mithraeum and back into the sunshine, and I spied this rather austere yet beautiful church tower at the end of the street. Judging by the the changes in bricks on the walls, I wonder if it had been rebuilt after the Blitz. I later looked it up, and it seems not. it looks like it was rebuilt after the Great Fire of London by Sir Christopher Wren, so that may explain why the stone is different in the top half. I have decided to go back and visit it at a later date, it looks rather interesting.

And this, rather ugly piece of art is a tribute to the Walbrook, a now covered over stream that once ran through the centre of both Roman and early Mediaeval London. This piece of art, by Cristina Iglesias almost has a Silent Hill feel to it, and it made me uncomfortable looking at it. Funny how art can create such a strong feeling!

I got this beautiful shot of St Paul's from the park opposite, before we headed into the little shopping centre to get something to eat. We ended up at Zizzi's, which we purposely picked because it seemed to be the only place without a queue. Perhaps typically, we soon discovered why. The service was incredibly slow, and it took almost two hours to grab what we thought was going to be a quick bite to eat. Thankfully we had driven & parked at Richmond, so we only had to tube it back, otherwise we could have missed a train. Bit of an annoying end to a great day, but there we go. Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some!