Guildhall

Met a friend in the Guildhall Art Gallery. Learned about how the art gallery was bombed in WWII, just 3 weeks after they had removed the paintings. It took about 50 years to get an art gallery built back on the site; the biggest delay caused by finding a Roman amphitheatre when they started digging the foundations. The building design was changed to accommodate the amphitheatre in the basement. In the square above there a large black circle in the paving stones to mark the position, which I had never noticed despite having walked through many times.   Friend P took me into the Guildhall itself. I did not realise you could go into the City Of London Corporation offices and ask for a visitors pass for the Guildhall. It's full of interesting history, too much to detail here but well worth a visit and free.