God and Mammon are joining forces to celebrate the City and encourage the rest of London to visit.
Parts of the Square Mile rarely seen by much of the capital’s population are hosting events, including a number of livery halls and 28 churches.
Mark Boleat, chairman of the City of London Corporation policy committee, said the Celebrate the City initiative was inspired by the Olympics and “absolutely not” designed to improve the City’s image after financial crises and the Occupy London stand-off.
“This is meant to be a significant event that brings together a lot of different things — the City and the churches and the various cultural establishments here — five weeks before the Olympics. Hopefully it will open up the City to people who maybe haven’t been before.”
Among the destinations will be the Guildhall Yard, which will be the site of a free open-air performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture at 6pm next Thursday.
The newly revamped Cheapside shopping area will go back to its medieval roots with a street “fayre”, while the public can view a rarely displayed copy of the 1297 Magna Carta in Guildhall Art Gallery, gold bars in the Bank of England and silver in the London Silver Vaults.
Sir Nicholas Kenyon, managing director of the Barbican which is throwing a Bauhaus costume party as its contribution, said it was the first time the City and the Diocese of London, whose churches were such an important part of its heritage, had joined forces.
“For too long, the City was not welcoming to visitors and tourists but that has changed radically over the last few years, with developing retail and the Millennium Bridge. There’s a real desire now to open up the City.”
Celebrate the City coincides with the conclusion of the Spitalfields Music Summer Festival and the opening of the 50th City of London Festival which has events including golden pianos on the streets. But Sir Nicholas stressed Celebrate the City was not an add-on to those festivals. “It’s a particular 2012 initiative between the Jubilee and the Olympics.”
