Museum of London

The history of London, from prehistoric times to the present is told in the Museum of London through reconstructed interiors and street scenes, alongside displays of original artefacts found during the museum's archaeological digs.

A purpose-built pavilion in the museum's gardens is home (opens July 25 2014) to an exhibition revealing the design and making process of the Heatherwick Cauldron. If it was possible for anything to steal the show at the London 2012 Olympic games, this marvellous piece of metalwork just might have managed it. Its 204 copper 'petals' represented every competing nation and joined to form an enormous cauldron, which housed the Olympic flame, and later the Paralympic flame, for the duration of the competition. Two huge sections of the Cauldron will be on display, as well as test versions of the copper elements. The petals themselves were distributed to each of the competing nations following the games, and the display will also include photographs of National Committee representatives from all over the globe with their scorched copper cones.