Temple of Mithras, London Mithraeum Bloomberg

During Anthony Clayton's talk this week on subterranean London, he talked about the Temple of Mithras at the Bloomberg Building in London, I decided to go and visit the next day. I booked a free ticket online, expecting it to be full, and when I arrived found I didn't really need to book.

The Roman Temple of Mithras is in the London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE. A Mithraeum is a Mithraic temple, used by the worshippers of Mithras.

The impressive Bloomberg building is the new European HQ in the heart of the city. It is located between Bank and Cannon St tube stations.

I visited on a Friday lunchtime and many of the City workers were having their lunch break - see the crowds outside this pub -

The Bloomberg SPACE is a new cultural hub and houses the ancient temple, a selection of the remarkable Roman artefacts found during the recent excavation, and a series of contemporary art commissions responding to one of the UK’s most significant archaeological sites.

The history of the site from Bloomberg :
"The site lies over the course of one of London’s lost rivers, the Walbrook. Nearly 2,000 years ago when Londinium was founded by the Romans, this river marked the limits of their first settlement. In the 3rd century AD, nearly 200 years after the founding of London, a Roman Londoner, built a temple to the god Mithras on this reclaimed ground, next to the river.

This water feature is by a Spaniard Cristina Iglesias, called Forgotten Streams, it represents the ancient Walbrook River that used to flow through this site and used as a watercourse by the Romans.

Mithras
The mysterious cult of Mithras first appeared in Rome in the 1st century AD. It spread across the Empire over the next 300 years, predominantly attracting merchants, soldiers and imperial administrators. Meeting in temples which were often constructed below ground, these were private, dark and windowless spaces. The mythological scene of Mithras killing a bull within a cave, the ‘tauroctony’ is at the heart of the cult, and its full meaning is subject of much speculation."

The original temple was underground. It was a temple to Mithraism, a mystery religion practised in the Roman Empire and very popular with Roman soldiers and merchants. It was based on the god Mithras. Not much is really known about this cult as there are no written records. Just the archaeological findings.

The followers built the subterranean temple in the 3rd century, around 240 AD, to recreate the cave where Mithras killed the sacred bull. The cult members could be likened to the current day Freemasons. The temple measures about 18 m x 8 m.

The temple was disused by the end of the 4th century and slowly sank beneath rising street levels of medieval London.

The temple was found in 1954 during an archaeological excavation in the rubble of bomb damaged buildings of post-war London. First the marble head of a statue of Mithras was uncovered, then archaeologists confirmed the structure uncovered nearby was a temple to Mithras. It became one of the most significant events in British archaeological history. Tens of thousands of visitors flocked to the site to marvel at the Roman remains.

Other artefacts found buried in the temple were white marble likenesses of Minerva, Mercury and Serapis. Also a marble relief of Mithras killing the astral bull, the Tauroctony. The statues were sent to the Museum of London. The temple remains were removed from the site until the 1960s when they were reassembled on an elevated concrete platform in the open air. Not the right place for a subterranean place of worship!

Before the Bloomberg was constructed, a wall from the original temple was found, so the location was known. The temple was restored a few feet away and returned underground in the Bloomberg building. It is now 8 m underground, at its original level.

Visitors enter the Bloomberg SPACE on the ground floor, where the art is exhibited, plus an interesting display of Roman artefacts that were uncovered during the excavations.

You go downstairs to a room with digital displays and a few information boards. This is where you wait for the 'tour' into the temple, which takes place every 20 minutes. The head of Mithras, wearing a conical cap -

An artist's impression inside the mithraeum -

Finally you enter the 'temple'. It is dark. You can see the stone walls and a clever light effect shows the 2 rows of 7 columns around the Mithraeum. You hear chanting of the ancient Romans, followed by talking and laughter of the men in the temple. The show lasts about 6 minutes and then the lights goes on, revealing the Mithraeum. It is all very atmospheric and effective.

 

 

Definitely worth a visit. Entry is free and you are given a 32 page book on the London Mithraeum, thanks to Bloomberg.

See more of the Mithras remains at the Museum of London Temple of Mithras gallery.

Friouato Caves, Morocco in Atlas Obscura

I've been to Friouato Caves or Kef Friotato twice, in 1976 and 1981. Friouato is located in the Taza area of the Middle Atlas in Morocco.

 In Feb 2019 I cam across this article on Friouato Caves in Atlas Obscura , "Friouato Caves
The true depths of these stunning Moroccan caves are unknown".

Underground London - talk by Anthony Clayton - Subterranean City

As part of my "Underground London" blogs, on 21 Feb 2019 I went to Kensington Library lecture room for a talk by Anthony Clayton on "Subterranean City : beneath the streets of London". It was the first time I have been to one of his talks. He has written several books on underground England.

The talk was good as it has given me ideas of places to visit. These include the Temple of Mithras at the Bloomberg Building in London. There is also the mail rail, run by the Postal Museum, on part of the line that was used for transporting mail in the past. He also talked about a lot of the old parts of the underground lines and stations that are now closed. Down Street station can be visited on tours.

There was some mention of the lost rivers of London. And the old air raid underground shelters, such as the one at Clapham South. The London Transport Musuem has hidden London tours.

Clayton mentioned the Urban Explorer who has published lots of photos on the internet.

The lecture hall still has the original seats with ashtrays on the backs of the seats. That is something you rarely see nowadays.

I now have more ideas of places to visit, and will link to this post as and when I visit them.

My visit to the Temple of Mithras , London Mithraeum .

Spile Cave, Himare, southern Albania

There is a lot of limestone in Albania, particularly in the north, where there are a lot of mountains. I went on a tour of southern Albania and sadly didn't get to see any caves.

I stayed in Himare and noticed Shpella e Spilesë, the Spile Cave, by the side of the road. It is at the base of a small cliff by Spile beach.

Wikipedia says Spile's Cave is a monument of cultural heritage in Himara, Vlora district, in the Vlora region of Albania. It is listed as a "Cultural Monument of Albania" and is under protection, category VL091.

According to mythology in Homer's Odyssey,, Odysseus faced the Cyclops in the cave, on returning from the Trojan War.

On the Himara gov page,  using Google translate, it says :
"The cave extends to a depth of more than 30 m with an irregular entry 8 m wide and 7 m high, 3.6 m above sea level. The cave is formed as a result of karst processes. The limestone cliffs that formed the cave walls are tectonically deformed, and there is a large crack on the ceiling. Inside there are some well-developed stalactites. Cave research revealed stratified evidence of prehistoric activity dating from the middle of the Holocene, but cumulative deposits inside the cave may have been ransacked by rising sea levels at the height of the hot period. Archaeologists express their regret because the evidence of exploitation in the Upper Gulf Coast's Upper Lowlands in the Spile Cave may have been lost. A largely unbroken sedimentological and sedimentological examination in the interior documented prehistoric human activity from the Mesolithic Period, 8,000 p.e.s. The areas around the caves were also inhabited during this period, which is evidenced by the ceramics found and tombs. The use of the cave was continuous in all prehistoric and historical periods with more intense human activity from the Early Bronze Age. Shilla was inhabited even in the Iron Age during the Historical, Hellenistic, Roman, even until the Middle Ages. Findings from all of these periods are unique. The ones that differ are microlites and many tools of flint, chisels, blades, digging tools, etc. The Bronze Age hermit in Himara show an advantage of local fabrics as well as the impacts and the similarity with Dodonas pottery. A large number of high-quality Hellenistic pottery dates back to the 5th century BC, including amphora, skyfosa, lemys, and other corundum coral wings (Black paint). The smooth scene, described by Cardini, was no longer visible. The beach that contained only a small hotel and some houses had become a pre-city and the cave that held so much potential for Cardini was no longer visible from the water's edge. Examining the cliff face within the southern spur of the developed beach, we were able to find three of the five caves illustrated on Cardini's map, caves 1, 2 and 3 (Cave 1, the largest cave where Cardini has performed successful digging , was still intact but hidden behind the concrete foundations of a partially built hotel Himara's caves now require a thorough re-evaluation before valuable archeology Himara's cave with the name: The Spilja Cave was declared a cultural monument with decision of the Rectorate of the State University of Tirana "No.6, dated 15.1.1963-" On the Promulgation of Cultural Monuments 2. Spile Cave, in the village of Himara."

It seems there have been plans to build a hotel in front of the cave. However the site hasn't been looked after and when I saw it, it looks more like a rubbish dump. Even the plaque that declared it a "Cultural Monument, Natural Prehistoric" site has gone.

According to this page : " It is a considerable space, a cave that in this visible part reaches a height of up to 2-3 meters.

Within this cave there is also stalactite and stalactite, formed in centuries as a natural phenomenon typical for prehistoric caves. Water droplets, coming from above, meet this environment somewhat, to immediately create the sensation of the events that have developed within it. Once it gets full and oval, the cave comes narrowing and at the end of its visible and illuminated part creates a "pocket", a kind of barrier that prevents you from moving further. After that comes the rest and main of the cave, which according to Mr. Gaçe, goes up to a depth of 1500 meters.

Formerly in the late 1980s, a group of the Academy of Sciences explored the cave to the end, where lifetime evidence of a period more than 7 centuries before Christ was found.

In 1987, with the initiative of prof. Aleks Budës, the Academy of Sciences of Albania, gave this cave the status "Cultural Monument, Natural Prehistoric".

The above site tells more of the mythology. The cave was first excavated by archaeologists in 1920.

See more on the paper about Cardini, "A Preliminary Investigation of Two Prehistoric Cave Sites in Southern Albania".

This blog on Himara Village describes how the cave has been occupied from Neolithic times.

I just hope that steps are taken to preserve the site.

Meteora in Greece - photos & stamps

I collect cave stamps and some of the first in my collection were those of Meteora in Greece. The name Meteora relates to columns in the sky.

Meteora was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1988 : "In a region of almost inaccessible sandstone peaks, monks settled on these 'columns of the sky' from the 11th century onwards. Twenty-four of these monasteries were built, despite incredible difficulties, at the time of the great revival of the eremetic ideal in the 15th century. Their 16th-century frescoes mark a key stage in the development of post-Byzantine painting."

Meteora is located in the Region of Thessaly in mainland Greece. It has been on my to do list for year and I finally paid a visit in Sept 2018. It is certainly an amazing place, both geologically and culturally. A series of sandstone towers stand up from the plains and 24 monasteries were built on top of these towers. There are also various caves.

My first real view was from Kalambaka town -

Six of the monasteries are still inhabited and we visited two. The first was St Stephens, which is inhabited by nuns. No photos are allowed inside the churches, which are packed full of paintings and icons etc.

 Varlaam -

Another monastery -

This is Varlaam, note the staircase and cave -

There are many caves, some have been inhabited since 50,000 years ago. In more recent times, one high level cave was used as a prison for the monks, but I didn't manage to get any photos.

See more on Wikipedia.

Some stamps of Meteora :

1940

1942

1961

1981

Maxim cards from 2009 -

© Liz Price

Corfu water tunnels

Corfu water tunnels - not natural caves, but at least they are underground!

The Greek island of Corfu does have a few natural caves, but they were all to hard to get to via public transport. I stayed in the village of Benitses and immediately behind is a high range of hills that contain caves. I didn't attempt to get to any, instead I decided to go to the water tunnels and aqueduct.

It took me 2 attempts to find the Benitses springs and water tunnels. They aren't marked on any map that I had. The first day I started on the right trail, but decided it was wrong, so turned back and took another trail. This led quite steeply uphill. When it levelled out and went down slightly, I almost turned back, but carried on a bit and then found one spring. It is by Agia Paraskeuh church and the water comes out of a pipe. I filled up my water bottle, ate a peach and left.

The next day I got a sketch map that showed Benitses water springs and set off. This time I continued on the initial trail I had taken yesterday. It is Route 1, marked by white and red markers. There were also a couple of signs saying water springs. The path led gently uphill, more or less alongside a stream, so I guessed it was right. I was really pleased when I came to the water tunnels.

These were constructed when Sir Frederick Adams was Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian islands, 1824 - 1832. After the Napoleonic Wars, in 1814 Corfu was placed under the protection of the British. This meant the British were responsible for the building of the roads and the creation of the island's water supply.

The first tunnel I saw is the biggest. It is dated 1909. There was also an old laminated sign "Lord High Commissioner during the British Protectorate, Sir Frederick Adam.

As it was the end of summer, the water level was low, and didn't cover the pipe leading into the tunnel, so I was able to walk along that. This led to the "control room" with 3 "controls". There was very little stal in the tunnel.

The 2nd tunnel, dated 1906, was much smaller size and was wet, so I didn't go in.

The 3rd one I took at was very small and water was coming out of a pipe right inside the entrance, there didn't seem to be a tunnel.

Slightly higher was another entrance above a dry stream. This was a through tunnel.

Another very small entrance, it was dry inside and there seemed to be more calcite. This was right by the steps leading up to Agios Nikolas church.

The stream above the church was completely dry, but presumably there would be a waterfall here in the wet season.

I had a look around, but still didn't find the aqueduct. One report, Belvedere Trails, says it is at the top of the hill, which seems strange as the springs are lower down. The aqueduct was marked once, in the village, then there were no more signs. However I am not even sure how much of it still exists. It was built in 1830.

Aqueducts on Corfu :
The Romans created the first aqueduct network in Corfu between the 1st and 2nd century AD to transport water from the source of St. Gourgis, source Lartourou in Vryoni area and the source of Chrisiida.

During the period of British occupation in Corfu, there were problems with water supply to the villages. The British High Commissioner Sir Frederick Adam decided on a solution to the problem by transporting fresh drinking water from the source of Carteri and St. Nicholas in the area of Benitses down to the village.

On October 18, 1830 in the Senate he proposed the construction of an aqueduct 6.5 miles from Benitses at an altitude of 55 m. The budget was £19,386. The Senate unanimously accepted the proposal and the water supply to the city from the new aqueduct began with a ceremony in the main square just 10 months later on August 7, 1831. Info from Corfu aqueduct. There are also old photos on that page.

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Ruins of Roman baths
There are the ruined remains of an old Roman villa with baths in Benitses village.

There is a lot of info on the villa and baths on this site, atcorfu. On that page are photos with a yellow info sign, that sign no longer exists. It is a pity there is no info at all now, so tourists have no idea what they are looking at!

© Liz Price