London Mithraeum

#44

⭐ Highlights

Temple Chamber

Sanctuary to Mithras

Columns, apse and benches appear by degrees; the god’s cult returns as your pupils widen.

Stand centre; listen for whispered responses in the soundscape.

📍 Lower level, original site

Finds Wall

Voices of a frontier city

From hairpins to boots: every object is a witness statement from Roman London.

Pick one material—leather, bone, glass—and follow it case to case.

📍 Middle level, artefact displays

Bloomberg SPACE

Now meets then

Contemporary commissions riff on the archaeology below.

Read the work’s notes after the temple: you’ll catch more echoes.

📍 Street level

Walbrook Story

A lost river, a saved site

The vanished Walbrook stream both fed the cult site and preserved what you see today.

Trace the river’s line on the street map upstairs.

📍 Interpretation panels

Opening Hours

Sunday: 12:00 – 17:00

Tuesday: 10:00 – 18:00

Wednesday: 10:00 – 18:00

Thursday: 10:00 – 18:00

Friday: 10:00 – 18:00

Saturday: 10:00 – 18:00

Inside the museum

A Roman mystery cult beneath a 21st-century HQ. The Temple of Mithras, discovered in 1954 and painstakingly returned to its original riverside level, is staged with sound, shadow and Latin chant. Above it, cases of finds—boots, curse tablets, brooches—rebuild a day in Londinium, while the Bloomberg SPACE adds rotating contemporary art. Book a free timed slot; descend past the artefacts; let your eyes adapt. It’s short, sharp and unforgettable.

Show more Show less

📖 Wikipedia 🌐 Website Google Maps

🤓 Fun Facts

The temple was first found in 1954, briefly rebuilt at street level, then—during Bloomberg’s redevelopment—carefully returned to its original underground position where you see it today.

Excavations here produced Britain’s largest haul of Roman writing tablets—among them the earliest known reference to ‘London’ and some of the earliest handwritten documents found in the city.

Those ‘notepads’ were waxed wooden tablets reused again and again; stylus scratches sometimes survive even when the wax is long gone.

Entry is free—but it’s timed. Book ahead and you’re more likely to catch the full sound-and-light sequence with space to breathe.

The temple stood beside the lost Walbrook stream—a waterlogged ribbon through the Roman city that helped seal and preserve leather, wood and bone for 1,700 years.