It must have been some time in 1972 that my father took me to the Museum of London. I was six. Half way through our visit we entered a dark space. Anticipation grew, suddenly the sounds of horses drawn carriages, the voices of street hawkers, and the general hubbub of a 17th-century London street began to filter into the darkness. And the voice of Samuel Pepys (or so I believed) began to narrate the events of the Great Fire of London of 1666. Far off in the darkness an ominous glimmer of red appears in what we learn was a bakery in Pudding Lane. Gradually, we become aware of the unfamiliar skyline of the City of London of 2nd September 1666 modelled before us as the fire begins to spread hour by hour, day by day.
This relatively simple (by today’s standards) exhibit incorporating just a model, lighting effects and audio vividly captured the human tragedy and cataclysmic nature of the Great Fire of London and has remained with me ever since. To me, it is a great combination of engaging, authentic content and immersive presentation. I have not been to the Museum of London for a few years so I am not sure if the exhibit is still there. But I do know that they now have a major exhibition on the Great Fire called London’s Burning on until Winter of 2009.