British Museum London

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The British Museum

 

The British museum, located in London, is home to more than seven million objects showcasing human history and culture. It’s one of the largest and most comprehensive museums in the world.

Established in 1753, the first collections in the museum are from the physician and scientists Sir Hans Sloane. It opened publicly for the first time on 15 January 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury. The next two and a half centuries witnessed its expansion, even creating a branch at the British Museum of Natural History in South Kensington in 1887. The British Museum remains a unique structure for housing both a national museum and a national library in the same building.

The museum doesn’t accept entrance fees and it is sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, although some fees are asked during special exhibitions.

One notable area in the British Museum was the Round Reading Room designed by architect Sydney Smirke, but was closed in 1997 after the national library’s transfer to St Pancras.

Departments in British Museum include Ancient Egypt and Sudan; Greek and Roman Antiquities; Middle East; Prints and Drawings, Asia; Africa, Oceania and the Americas; Silver Coins and Medals; Prehistory and Europe; Conservation, Documentation and Science; and Libraries and Archives.

The British Museum is house to the following artifacts: Rosetta stone, Benin Bronzes, Colossal Granite, head of Amenhotep III, Mausoleum of Halikarnassos and Parthenon Galleries. See also pictures from other museums like the Los Angeles Maritime Museum and the Corning Glass Museum in New York.