In 1954, archaeologists digging in the bombed out ruins of post-World War II London discovered what they first thought was an ancient Roman shed. The structure wasn’t on any maps of the Roman city of Londinium, the precursor to modern-day London. But as excavations continued, the archaeologists found a carved marble head of a deity that revealed the structure’s true intention: a temple to the god Mithras and home to a mysterious, all-male, Roman cult. The temple was moved from its site, then known as the Pompeii of the North, where it attracted mobs of people fascinated by the ancient city buried under London.
The permanent installation opens November 14, and it was designed to approximate what it felt like to experience a ritual in the original temple first hand. This, of course, isn’t usually how archaeology is typically displayed. Most ruins are shown in overlit rooms and resemble piles of rubble, making it difficult to comprehend what it might have been like in its heyday. “It’s really hard for any one person to project themselves into another’s experience, particularly into another era, particularly thousands of years ago,” says Jake Barton, founder and principal of the New York-based design firm Local Projects. “That chasm is part of why people don’t plug into history very effectively.”
Local Projects led the design work along with curator Nancy Rosen, consultant Matthew Schreiber, and architect Studio Joseph. For Barton, the Mithraeum posed a unique design challenge from the other major museum projects he’s worked on, including the 9/11 Memorial Museum and the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York. Because there’s limited knowledge about the temple, Barton worked with historians and scholars to create an authentic experience that would enable visitors to imagine what it might have been like thousands of years ago.
The exhibit’s designers wanted visitors to experience what it might have been like inside the temple of Mithras during a ritual. But there wasn’t documentation of exactly what happened inside.
“Like abstract art, it leaves a lot of details out and evocatively invites visitors to project themselves into the temple,” Barton says.
The London Mithraeum opens to the public on November 14th. Admission is free.