Born From Stone: Polish artist Goshka Macuga transforms London Roman temple with rock formations

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Financial news and archaeology – these two things don’t come together all that often. 

In a rare instance of such a pairing, visitors to London can descend beneath the city’s financial centre to discover the ancient Roman temple of Mithras, found below the current site of Bloomberg’s European headquarters.

Shedding fresh light on antiquity, the London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE regularly brings site-specific contemporary art commissions to the temple, encouraging artists to engage with and respond to the site’s rich archaeological history.

Last week, Polish multidisciplinary artist Goshka Macuga made her – temporary – mark on the space. 

Her immersive installation ‘Born from Stone’ both explores the mythology surrounding the god Mithras, to whom the temple was dedicated, and speaks to the wider history of the City of London. 

Sculptural stalactites and stalagmites juxtapose geological processes with human progress, while a selection of works on loan from Imperial War Museums and curated by Macuga evoke a historical cycle of destruction and redevelopment: raising questions about how history repeats itself and affects our natural and built environment.

“The cave is a powerful symbol that appears in various interpretations of the mythological narrative attached to Mithras, with deep associations as a birthplace and as a place of violence and creation” Macuga reflects. “With Born From Stone, I aim to expand upon these associations, exploring both the generative and destructive forces that shape our world.”

Bloomberg opened London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE at its European Headquarters in November 2017, with the Roman Mithraeum first discovered in 1954. 

‘Born from Stone’ by Goshka Macuga runs at London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE until 18 January 2025.