With authentic decorations, lighting, music and greenery, Christmas Past gives glimpses into the varying festive traditions that have evolved over the centuries.
Step into the first room and you are in a 1630s hall surrounded by evergreens and sweets. As you continue through the rooms you encounter live music, roast dinners, parlous games and cocktail parties. Decorations and foods change, new traditions are introduced and others decline. We finish in Room 11, a fashionably converted apartment in Shoreditch in 1998 with a traditional roast turkey dinner.
According to the Geffrye’s curator, Hannah Fleming, the biggest change we’ve seen in festive traditions is the appearance of the Christmas tree. She said that “since about the middle of the nineteenth century [the tree] has become an essential emblem of the season”.
1935 period room at Christmas Past. Photograph by Hannah Taylor.
Entry to the exhibition is free, and you can experience seasonal food and drink served in the museum cafe. The museum shop will also be full of Christmas cards, decorations, home ware and gifts. Related events will include Christmas fairs, festive late nights, carol concerts, and festive workshops. Tickets for these events can be booked here.
Closing parties will take place on the 6 and 7 of January, but then it’s farewell to the museum as it closes for the next two years, allowing it to undergo refurbishment.
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HeadlineChristmas Past exhibition opens at the Geffrye Museum of the Home
Short HeadlineChristmas Past exhibition opens
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With authentic decorations, lighting, music and greenery, Christmas Past gives glimpses into the varying festive traditions that have evolved over the centuries.
Step into the first room and you are in a 1630s hall surrounded by evergreens and sweets. As you continue through the rooms you encounter live music, roast dinners, parlous games and cocktail parties. Decorations and foods change, new traditions are introduced and others decline. We finish in Room 11, a fashionably converted apartment in Shoreditch in 1998 with a traditional roast turkey dinner.
According to the Geffrye’s curator, Hannah Fleming, the biggest change we’ve seen in festive traditions is the appearance of the Christmas tree. She said that “since about the middle of the nineteenth century [the tree] has become an essential emblem of the season”.
1935 period room at Christmas Past. Photograph by Hannah Taylor.
Entry to the exhibition is free, and you can experience seasonal food and drink served in the museum cafe. The museum shop will also be full of Christmas cards, decorations, home ware and gifts. Related events will include Christmas fairs, festive late nights, carol concerts, and festive workshops. Tickets for these events can be booked here.
Closing parties will take place on the 6 and 7 of January, but then it’s farewell to the museum as it closes for the next two years, allowing it to undergo refurbishment.
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