These 5 Items Were Discovered At the Deepest Point of the Barbican

A huge number of people were involved in the construction of the Barbican, across several decades. There are still traces of workers’ presences around the building today.

In 2018, we discovered a collection of belongings underneath Cinema 1.

They were found under the raked seating, at the deepest point of the Barbican. Cinema 1 sits 17 feet below sea level. The items included:

A pair of worn-out shoes

Black leather men's loafers

Splattered with paint and dust

With the sole of the shoe worn through from use

A bag of barbecue flavour Hula Hoops crisps

The branding is from the 1980s, which helps us date the items

A can of sparkling bitter lemon drink

And a pack of cigarettes

These items were all found on top of a newspaper, in a void space under the cinema seats.

Helpfully for us, the newspaper is dated 26 March 1981. The Barbican opened in March 1982.

This means we can guess that these items belonged to a construction worker finishing work on Cinema 1, getting it ready for opening the following year.

Finding these items gives us a connection to the people who built the Barbican. We can imagine who the items might have belonged to and what they were doing when they left them behind.

How did they forget their shoes? Were they working in the area under Cinema 1 or was it just a good quiet spot for a break?

Perhaps he took off his loafers to put on work boots, while he was having a break.

In the Barbican Archive collection, we have a lot of official documentation and records which were created by the institution.

It's important for us to also archive objects and stories that tell us about the people connected to the Barbican's history.

The owner of these items probably would have been quite surprised if he had been told, in 1981, that they would end up in an archive collection.