The Museum of London has released released new behind-the-scenes footage of staff decanting its Pleasure Gardens display as it hit the halfway milestone in packing up its London Wall galleries. The two-year process to remove 10,000 objects from display began in January 2023 following the closure of its Barbican home in December 2022. The museum is preparing to move to a new site in Smithfield, which will open in 2026.
Part art gallery, part fashion show and part festival, London’s pleasure gardens defined the city’s nightlife in the 18th and 19th centuries. These gardens combined music, drinking, socialising and spectacular entertainments, like a combination of a modern nightclub and theme park. The capital’s most famous example was the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens in Lambeth which was open from 1785 to 1859.
The Pleasure Gardens gallery was created to evoke the atmosphere of these gardens, with a collection of 18th and 19th century clothing at its heart. The immersive gallery setting has long offered a window into the magic and mystery the garden’s Georgian and Victorian guests would have experienced. The display featured elegant and rare garments from the era, including a 19th century female Archer outfit originally belonging to Mrs Fanny Giveen (1833-63), and an 18th century fawn-coloured coat and breeches which were once in the collection of history painter Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911). Clothing from the gallery has returned to the museum’s Dress & Textile collection ahead of their move to the new London Museum in Smithfield.
The process of de-installing items from the museum’s London Wall site began in January 2023 and will see the museum barcode, audit, digitise and pack up each object individually. Items range from small, delicate archaeological glass to the large-scale objects like the 2012 Olympic Cauldron, Selfridges lift and Victorian Walk.
The museum’s new home at Smithfield will open as a world-class cultural destination in 2026. Housed in the restored historic market buildings, it will welcome millions more visitors and every London schoolchild through its doors. It will open early and close late to reflect London’s 24-hour character and increased gallery space will enable visitors to enjoy more of its 7 million strong collection than ever before.
The Museum of London Docklands remains open to visitors, having recently celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2023.
