London museum | name = British Museum | image = British Museum from NE 2.JPG | established = 1753 | collection = 13+ million objects | area = 13.5 acres/ 588,000 ft²/ 94 Galleries[1] | location = Great Russell Street, London WC1, England | visitors = 4,903,000 (2006–2007)[2] | tube = Holborn, Tottenham Court Road, Russell Square |director = Neil MacGregor | website = www.britishmuseum.org 

}} The British Museum front entrance on Great Russell Street. ... Map of central postal districts The WC (Western Central) postcode area, also known as the London WC postcode area,[1] is a group of postcode districts in central London, England. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Holborn tube station Decorated metal panels on Central Line platforms at Holborn, near the British Museum. ... Tottenham Court Road is a station on the London Underground, serving as an interchange between the Central Line and the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line. ... Russell Square is a London Underground station on Bernard Street, Bloomsbury, not far from the British Museum and Russell Square Gardens. ... Robert Neil MacGregor (born 1946) is an art historian and museum director. ...

The British Museum in London, England is a museum of human history and culture. Its collections, which number more than 13 million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present.^[a] This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... The Palais du Louvre in Paris, which houses the Musée du Louvre, one of the worlds most famous museums, and most certainly the largest. ...

The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. The museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the current museum building. Its expansion over the following two and a half centuries has resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, the first being the British Museum of Natural History in South Kensington in 1887. Until 1997, when the current British Library building opened to the public, the British Museum was unique in that it housed both a national museum of antiquities and a national library in the same building. Since 2001 the director of the Museum has been Neil MacGregor.^[4] Bloomsbury may refer to: Bloomsbury, London, an area in the centre of the city the Bloomsbury group, an English literary group active around from around 1905 to the start of World War II. the Bloomsbury Gang, a political grouping centred on the local landowner, John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford... For other uses, see Assyria (disambiguation). ... Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who achieved political and military dominance over large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic... For other uses, see Inuit (disambiguation). ... Hans Sloane. ... is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1759 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The entrance front of Montagu House Montagu House (sometimes spelled Montague) was a late 17th century mansion in Great Russell Street in the Bloomsbury district of London which became the first home of the British Museum. ... Bloomsbury is an area of central London between Holborn and Euston station, developed by the Russell family in the 17th and 18th centuries into a fashionable residential area. ... For other similarly-named museums see Museum of Natural History. ... The junction with Old Brompton Road and Pelham Street, outside South Kensington tube station. ... British Library main building, London The British Library (BL) is the national library of the United Kingdom. ... Antiquity means different things: Generally it means ancient history, and may be used of any period before the Middle Ages. ... A national library is a library specifically established by the government of a country to serve as the preeminent repository of information for that country. ... The Director of the British Museum is the head of the British Museum in London, a post currently held by Neil MacGregor. ... Robert Neil MacGregor (born 1946) is an art historian and museum director. ...

As with all other national museums and art galleries in Britain, the Museum charges no admission fee, although charges are levied for some temporary special exhibitions.^[5]

The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2000 to become the Great Court, surrounding the original Reading Room.

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1107x1557, 536 KB) The Great Court of the British Museum, with the new tessellated roof designed by w:Foster and Partners arching around the original, circular, Reading Room of the British Library. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1107x1557, 536 KB) The Great Court of the British Museum, with the new tessellated roof designed by w:Foster and Partners arching around the original, circular, Reading Room of the British Library. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... View of the Great Court. ... The British Museum Reading Room, situated in the centre of the Great Court of the British Museum, used to be the main reading room of the British Library. ...

History

Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum

Sir Hans Sloane

Though principally a museum of cultural art objects and antiquities today, the British Museum was founded as a "universal museum". Its foundations lie in the will of the physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753). During the course of his lifetime Sloane gathered an enviable collection of curiosities and whilst not wishing to see his collection broken up after death, he bequeathed it to King George II, for the nation, for the princely sum of £20,000.^[6] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Hans Sloane. ... “Ancient” redirects here. ... Hans Sloane. ... George II (George Augustus; 10 November 1683 – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death. ...

At that time, Sloane’s collection consisted of around 71,000 objects of all kinds^[7] including some 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural history specimens including 337 volumes of dried plants, prints and drawings including those by Albrecht Dürer and antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Ancient Near and Far East and the Americas^[8] A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus, written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ... The term Old Master Print is used to describe works of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition (European or New World). ... Albrecht Dürer (pronounced /al. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... Overview map of the Ancient Near East The term Ancient Near East or Ancient Orient encompasses the early civilizations predating Classical Antiquity in the region roughly corresponding to that described by the modern term Middle East (Egypt, Iraq, Turkey), during the time roughly spanning the Bronze Age from the rise... East Asia Geographic East Asia. ... The history of the Americas is the collective history of North and South America, including Central America and the Caribbean. ...

Foundation (1753)

On 7 June 1753 King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum ^[b]. The Foundation Act, added two other libraries to the Sloane collection. The Cottonian Library, assembled by Sir Robert Cotton, dated back to Elizabethan times and the Harleian library, the collection of the Earls of Oxford. They were joined in 1757 by the Royal Library, assembled by various British monarchs. Together these four "foundation collections" included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library^[9] including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf.^[c] is the 158th day of the year (159th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1753 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... George II (George Augustus; 10 November 1683 – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death. ... An Act of Parliament or Act is law enacted by the parliament (see legislation). ... This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Ireland for the years 1701 to 1800. ... The Lindisfarne Gospels is but one of the treasures collected by Sir Robert Cotton. ... Portrait of Robert Cotton, commissioned 1626 and attributed to Cornelius Johnson (or Janssen), (1593-1661). ... Elizabethan redirects here. ... Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer (5 December 1661 – 21 May 1724), was an English statesman of the Stuart and early Georgian periods. ... Earl of Oxford - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... This article is about the monarchy of the United Kingdom, one of sixteen that share a common monarch; for information about this constitutional relationship, see Commonwealth realm; for information on the reigning monarch, see Elizabeth II. For information about other Commonwealth realm monarchies, as well as other relevant articles, see... Folio 27r from the Lindisfarne Gospels contains the incipit from the Gospel of Matthew. ... This article is about the epic poem. ...

The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum - national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public and aiming to collect everything. Sloane's collection, whilst including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests.^[10] The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary and antiquarian element and meant that the British Museum now became both national museum and library.^{[citation needed]} Portrait of Robert Cotton, commissioned 1626 and attributed to Cornelius Johnson (or Janssen), (1593-1661). ... Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer (5 December 1661 – 21 May 1724), was an English statesman of the Stuart and early Georgian periods. ... An antiquarian or antiquary is one concerned with antiquities or things of the past. ...

Cabinet of curiosities (1753-78)

Montagu House

The body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on the site now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost and the unsuitability of its location.^[11][d] Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... The entrance front of Montagu House Montagu House (sometimes spelled Montague) was a late 17th century mansion in Great Russell Street in the Bloomsbury district of London which became the first home of the British Museum. ... The entrance front of Montagu House Montagu House (sometimes spelled Montague) was a late 17th century mansion in Great Russell Street in the Bloomsbury district of London which became the first home of the British Museum. ... Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu (c. ... Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Memorial. ...

With the acquisition of Montagu House the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. In 1757 King George II gave the Old Royal Library and with it the right to a copy of every book published in the country, thereby ensuring that the Museum's library would expand indefinitely. The predominance of natural history, books and manuscripts began to lessen when in 1772 the Museum acquired its first antiquities of note; Sir William Hamilton's collection of Greek vases. During the few years after its foundation the British Museum received several further gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts and David Garrick's library of 1,000 printed plays, but yet contained few ancient relics recognisable to visitors of the modern museum.^{[citation needed]} Julio Pérez Ferrero Library - Cúcuta, Colombia A modern-style library in Chambéry A library is a collection of information, sources, resources, and services: it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual. ... is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1759 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... George II (George Augustus; 10 November 1683 – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death. ... This office, in the Royal Collection Department of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, is responsible for the care and maintenance of the royal collection of books and manuscripts owned by the Sovereign in an official capacity - as distinct from those owned privately and displayed at... William Richard Hamilton (1777-1859) British antiquarian and traveller, son of Rev. ... Bilingual amphora by the Andokides Painter, ca. ... The Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts consists of more than 22,000 pamphlets, broadsides, manuscripts, books, and news sheets, most of which were printed and distributed in London from 1640 to 1661. ... David Garrick by Thomas Gainsborough. ... A relic is an object, especially a piece of the body or a personal item of someone of religious significance, carefully preserved with an air of veneration as a tangible memorial, Relics are an important aspect of Buddhism, some denominations of Christianity, Hinduism, shamanism, and many other personal belief systems. ...

Indolence and energy (1778-1800)

Colossal Marble Foot

From 1778 a display of objects from the South Seas brought back from the round-the-world voyages of Captain James Cook and the travels of other explorers fascinated visitors with a glimpse of previously unknown lands. The bequest of a collection of books, engraved gems, coins, prints and drawings by Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode in 1800 did much to raise the Museum's reputation however Montagu House became increasingly crowded and decrepit and it was apparent that it would be unable to cope with further expansion.^[12] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The South China Sea, showing surrounding countries and neighbouring seas and oceans The South China Sea is a marginal sea, part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from Singapore to the Strait of Taiwan of around 3,500,000 km². It is the largest sea body after the five... This article is about the British explorer. ...

The museum’s first notable addition towards its collection of antiquities, since its foundation, was by Sir William Hamilton (1730–1803), British Ambassador to Naples, who sold his collection of Greek and Roman artefacts to the museum in 1784 together with a number of other antiquities and natural history specimens. A list of donations to the Museum, dated 31 January 1784 refers to the Hamilton bequest of a "Colossal Foot of an Apollo in Marble". It was one of two antiquities of Hamilton's collection drawn for him by Francesco Progenie, a pupil of Pietro Fabris, who also contributed a number of drawings of Mount Vesuvius sent by Hamilton to the Royal Society in London. William Richard Hamilton (1777-1859) British antiquarian and traveller, son of Rev. ... Location of the city of Naples (red dot) within Italy. ... is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... For other uses, see Apollo (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Royal Society (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

Growth and change (1800-25)

The Rosetta Stone

In the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. After the defeat of the French Campaign in the Battle of the Nile, in 1801, the British Museum acquired more Egyptian sculpture and in 1802 King George III presented the Rosetta Stone - key to the deciphering of hieroglyphs.^[13] Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British Consul General in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, laid the foundations of the collection of Egyptian Monumental Sculpture.^[14] Many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection, much of it Roman Sculpture, in 1805. In 1806, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799 to 1803 removed the large collection of marble sculptures from the Parthenon, on the Acropolis in Athens and transferred them to Britain. In 1816 these masterpieces of western art, were acquired by The British Museum by Act of Parliament and deposited in the museum thereafter.^[15] The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815. The Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from the widow of Claudius James Rich.^[16] Image File history File links Size of this preview: 396 × 599 pixelsFull resolution‎ (677 × 1,024 pixels, file size: 147 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Rosetta Stone - British Museum Photographer: Nina Aldin Thune - Nina sept. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 396 × 599 pixelsFull resolution‎ (677 × 1,024 pixels, file size: 147 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Rosetta Stone - British Museum Photographer: Nina Aldin Thune - Nina sept. ... This article is about the ancient Rosetta Stone found in Egypt. ... By 1799, the French Revolutionary Wars had resumed after a period of relative peace in 1798. ... Combatants Britain France Commanders Horatio Nelson François-Paul Brueys DAigalliers† Strength 14 ships of the line: * 13 x 74-gun, * 1 x 50-gun, 1 sloop 13 ships of the line: * 1 x 120-gun, * 3 x 80-gun, * 9 x 74gun, 4 frigates, some smaller Casualties 218... George III redirects here. ... This article is about the ancient Rosetta Stone found in Egypt. ... Henry Salt (June 14, 1780 – October 30, 1827) was an English artist, traveler, diplomat, and Egyptologist. ... See also: consulate (disambiguation). ... The Younger Memnon statue is one of two colossal granite heads from the Ancient Egyptian mortuary temple called the Ramesseum at Thebes, depicting the pharaoh Ramesses II wearing the nemes head-dress with a cobra diadem on top. ... Much of the following text is taken from the public domain Encyclopedia Britannica 1911, as such it may contain errors and inaccuracies Charles Towneley (1737-1805), English archaeologist and collector of marbles, was born at Towneley, the family seat, near Burnley in Lancashire, on the ist of October 1737. ... Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine (July 20, 1766 - November 14, 1841) was a British nobleman and diplomat, known for the removal of marble sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens -- popularly known as the Elgin Marbles. ... Ottoman redirects here. ... For other uses, see Parthenon (disambiguation). ... The Acropolis of Athens is the best known acropolis (high city, The Sacred Rock) in the world. ... This article is about the capital of Greece. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with temple of Apollo at Bassae. ... Phigalia, or Phigaleia (Greek Φιγαλεία or Φιγάλεια) is an ancient Greek city in the south-west angle of Arcadia. ... For other uses, see Assyria (disambiguation). ... Babylonia was a state in southern Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. ... Claudius James Rich (March 28, 1787 - October 5, 1821), English traveller and scholar, was born near Dijon. ...

In 1802 a Buildings Committee was set up to plan for expansion of the museum, and further highlighted by the donation in 1822 of the King's Library, personal library of King George III's, comprising 65,000 volumes, 19,000 pamphlets, maps, charts and topographical drawing.^[17] The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to draw up plans for an eastern extension to the Museum "... for the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it ..."^[18] and put forward plans for today's quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the King's Library Gallery began in 1823. The extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. However, following the founding of the National Gallery, London in 1824,^[e] the proposed Picture Gallery was no longer needed, and the space on the upper floor was given over to the Natural History collections.^[19] The King’s Library was the original name applied both to the British Royal Collection of over 60,000 books and to the room in the British Museum that housed them. ... George III redirects here. ... Polish soldiers reading a German leaflet during the Warsaw Uprising A pamphlet is an unbound booklet (that is, without a hard cover or binding). ... // Topographic maps are a variety of maps characterized by large-scale detail and quantitative representation of relief, usually using contour lines in modern mapping, but historically using a variety of methods. ... The Cathedral of Vilnius (1783), by Laurynas Gucevičius. ... Sir Robert Smirke (1781-18 April 1867) was a leading 19th century British architect. ... This office, in the Royal Collection Department of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, is responsible for the care and maintenance of the royal collection of books and manuscripts owned by the Sovereign in an official capacity - as distinct from those owned privately and displayed at... The entrance front of Montagu House Montagu House (sometimes spelled Montague) was a late 17th century mansion in Great Russell Street in the Bloomsbury district of London which became the first home of the British Museum. ... The King’s Library was the original name applied both to the British Royal Collection of over 60,000 books and to the room in the British Museum that housed them. ... Londons National Gallery, founded in 1824, houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900 in its home on Trafalgar Square. ... Table of natural history, 1728 Cyclopaedia Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now often viewed as several distinct scientific disciplines of integrative organismal biology. ...

The largest building site in Europe (1825-50)

Left to Right: Montagu House, Townley Gallery and Sir Robert Smirke's west wing under construction (July 1828)

The Museum became a construction site as Sir Robert Smirke's grand neo-classical building gradually arose. The King's Library, on the ground floor of the East Wing, was handed over in 1827, and was described as one of the finest rooms in London although it was not fully open to the general public until 1857, however, special openings were arranged during The Great Exhibition of 1851. In spite of dirt and disruption the collections grew, outpacing the new building.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 354 pixel Image in higher resolution (1454 × 643 pixel, file size: 473 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Left to right: Montagu House, Townley Gallery and Sir Robert Smirkes west wing under construction (July 1828) +/- File links The following pages... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 354 pixel Image in higher resolution (1454 × 643 pixel, file size: 473 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Left to right: Montagu House, Townley Gallery and Sir Robert Smirkes west wing under construction (July 1828) +/- File links The following pages... The entrance front of Montagu House Montagu House (sometimes spelled Montague) was a late 17th century mansion in Great Russell Street in the Bloomsbury district of London which became the first home of the British Museum. ... Sir Robert Smirke (1781-18 April 1867) was a leading 19th century British architect. ... Sir Robert Smirke (1781-18 April 1867) was a leading 19th century British architect. ... The Cathedral of Vilnius (1783), by Laurynas Gucevičius. ... The King’s Library was the original name applied both to the British Royal Collection of over 60,000 books and to the room in the British Museum that housed them. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park 1851. ...

Archaeological excavations

The Grenville Library, (1875)

In 1840 the Museum became involved in its first overseas excavations, Charles Fellows's expedition to Xanthos, in Asia Minor, whence came remains of the tombs of the rulers of ancient Lykia, among them the Nereid and Payava monuments. In 1857 Charles Newton was to discover the 4th-century BC Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. In the 1840s and 1850s the Museum supported excavations in Assyria by A.H. Layard and others at sites such as Nimrud and Nineveh. Of particular interest to curators was the eventual discovery of Ashurbanipal's great library of cuneiform tablets, which helped to make the Museum a focus for Assyrian studies.^[20] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Thomas Grenville (1755-1846), was a British politician and bibliophile. ... The term archaeological excavation has a double meaning. ... Sir Charles Fellows (August, 1799 - 8 November 1860) was a British archaeologist. ... In Greek mythology, Xanthos (yellow) was an alternate spelling for Xanthus. ... This article is about two nested areas of Turkey, a plateau region within a peninsula. ... Lycian rock cut tombs of Dalyan Lycian rock cut tombs of Dalyan Lycia (in Lycian, Trm̃misa (see List of Lycian place names); in ancient Greek, Λυκία and in modern Turkish, Likya) is a region in the modern-day provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. ... In Greek mythology, the Nereids (NEER-ee-eds) are blue-haired sea nymphs, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris. ... Sir Charles Thomas Newton (September 16, 1816–November 28, 1894) was a British archaeologist. ... A fanciful interpretation of the Mausoleum of Maussollos, from a 1572 engraving by Marten Heemskerk (1498–1574), who based his reconstruction on descriptions The Tomb of Maussollos, Mausoleum of Maussollos or Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (in Greek, ), was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC at Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey... For other uses, see Wonders of the World (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Assyria (disambiguation). ... The Right Honourable Sir Austen Henry Layard (5 March 1817–5 July 1894) was a British author and diplomatist, best known as the excavator of Nineveh. ... Nimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located south of Nineveh on the river Tigris. ... , For other uses, see Nineveh (disambiguation). ... Ashurbanipal, Assurbanipal or Sardanapal, in Akkadian Aššur-bāni-apli, (b. ... Cuneiform redirects here. ... Small tablets made out of clay were used from late 4th millennium BC onwards as a writing medium in Sumerian, Mesopotamian, Hittite, and Minoan/Mycenaean civilizations. ... Assyriology is the historical and archaeological study of ancient Mesopotamia. ...

Sir Thomas Grenville (1755–1846) was a Trustee of The British Museum from 1830 assembled a fine library of 20,240 volumes, which he left to the Museum in his will. The books arrived in January 1847 in twenty-one horse-drawn vans. The only vacant space for this large library was a room originally intended for manuscripts, between the Front Entrance Hall and the Manuscript Saloon. The books remained here until the British Library moved to St Pancras in 1998. Thomas Grenville (1755-1846), was a British politician and bibliophile. ... St Pancras is the name of a place in London. ...

Collecting from the wider world (1850-75)

The opening of the forecourt in 1852 marked the completion of Robert Smirke's 1823 plan, but already adjustments were having to be made to cope with the unforeseen growth of the collections. Infill galleries were constructed for Assyrian sculptures and Sydney Smirke's Round Reading Room, with space for a million books, opened in 1857. Because of continued pressure on space the decision was taken to move natural history to a new building in South Kensington, which would later become the British Museum of Natural History. Sir Robert Smirke (1781-18 April 1867) was a leading 19th century British architect. ... For other uses, see Assyria (disambiguation). ... Sydney Smirke (born 1798; died 1877) was a British architect during the 19th century. ... The British Museum Reading Room, situated in the centre of the Great Court of the British Museum, used to be the main reading room of the British Library. ... The junction with Old Brompton Road and Pelham Street, outside South Kensington tube station. ... For other similarly-named museums see Museum of Natural History. ...

Roughly contemporary with the construction of the new building was the career of a man sometimes called the "second founder" of the British Museum, the Italian librarian Anthony Panizzi. Under his supervision, the British Museum Library (now the British Library) quintupled in size and became a well-organised institution worthy of being called a national library. The quadrangle at the centre of Smirke's design proved to be a waste of valuable space and was filled at Panizzi's request by a circular Reading Room of cast iron, designed by Smirke's brother, Sydney Smirke.^[21] Sir Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi (17 September 1797 - 8 April 1879), better known as Anthony Panizzi, was a naturalized British librarian of Italian birth and an Italian patriot. ... British Library main building, London The British Library (BL) is the national library of the United Kingdom. ...

Until the mid 19th century the Museum's collections were relatively circumscribed but, in 1851, with the appointment to the staff of Augustus Wollaston Franks to curate the collections, the Museum began for the first time to collect British and European medieval antiquities, prehistory, branching out into Asia and diversifying its holdings of ethnography. Overseas excavations continued and John Turtle Wood discovered the remains of the 4th century BC Temple of Artemis at Ephesos, another Wonder of the Ancient World.^[22] Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (4968x1572, 3083 KB) Summary The British Museum Reading Room. ... Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks (March 20, 1826 - May 21, 1897), English antiquary, was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge. ... Stonehenge, England, erected by Neolithic peoples ca. ... Ethnography ( ethnos = people and graphein = writing) is the genre of writing that presents varying degrees of qualitative and quantitative descriptions of human social phenomena, based on fieldwork. ... John Turtle Wood was a British architect and engineer. ... The site of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Turkey. ... For the town in the southern United States, see Ephesus, Georgia. ... For other uses, see Wonders of the World (disambiguation). ...

Scholarship and legacies (1875-1900)

The natural history collections were an integral part of the British Museum until their removal to the new British Museum of Natural History, now the Natural History Museum, in 1887. With the departure and the completion of the new White Wing (fronting Montague Street) in 1884, more space was available for antiquities and ethnography and the library could further expand. This was a time of innovation as electric lighting was introduced in the Reading Room and exhibition galleries.^[23] For other similarly-named museums see Museum of Natural History. ... Ethnography ( ethnos = people and graphein = writing) is the genre of writing that presents varying degrees of qualitative and quantitative descriptions of human social phenomena, based on fieldwork. ...

In 1882 the Museum was involved in the establishment of the independent Egypt Exploration Fund (now Society) the first British body to carry out research in Egypt. A bequest from Miss Emma Turner in 1892 financed excavations in Cyprus. In 1897 the death of the great collector and curator, A.W. Franks, was followed by an immense bequest of 3,300 finger rings, 153 drinking vessels, 512 pieces of continental porcelain, 1,500 netsuke, 850 inro, over 30,000 bookplates and miscellaneous items of jewellery and plate, among them the Oxus Treasure.^[24] The Egypt Exploration Society (abbreviated EES) is the foremost learned society in the United Kingdom promoting the field of Egyptology. ... Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks (March 20, 1826 - May 21, 1897), English antiquary, was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge. ... Finger rings worn by Mary Nevill, Baroness Dacre, 1559. ... a monkey-shaped netsuke a netsuke maintains an inro (box) in the obi (belt) Japanese artists starting in the 17th century cleverly invented the miniature sculptures known as netsuke (Japanese:根付) to serve a very practical function. ... Inro An inro (印籠) was a case for holding small objects. ... Figure 1. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

In 1898 Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild bequeathed the glittering contents, from his New Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor. This consisted of almost 300 pieces of objets d'art et de vertu which included exquisite examples of jewellery, plate, enamel, carvings, glass and maiolica, in the tradition of a schatzkammer or treasure houses such as those formed by the Renaissance princes of Europe.^[25] Baron Ferdinand's will was most specific, and failure to observe the terms would make it void, the collection should be, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the House of Commons, caricatured in Vanity Fair, 1889. ... Waddesdon Manor. ... Majolica is earthenware with a white tin glaze, decorated by applying colorants on the raw glazed surface. ... Schatzkammer in German translates as Treasury (Chamber/Vault). ... This article is about the European Renaissance of the 14th-17th centuries. ...

New century, new building (1900-25)

Opening of The White Wing, King Edward VII's Galleries (1914)

By the last years of the nineteenth century, The British Museum's collections had increased so much that the Museum building was no longer big enough for them. In 1895 the trustees purchased the 69 houses surrounding the Museum with the intention of demolishing them and building around the West, North and East sides of the Museum. The first stage was the construction of the northern wing beginning 1906. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

Left to Right; T. E. Lawrence and Sir Leonard Woolley standing beside a Hittite slab, Carchemish, Syria (1911-14)

All the while, the collections kept growing, Emily Torday collected in Central Africa, Aurel Stein in Central Asia, D.G. Hogarth, Leonard Woolley and T. E. Lawrence excavated at Carchemish. In 1918, because of the threat of wartime bombing, some objects were evacuated to a Postal Tube Railway at Holborn, the National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth) and a country house near Malvern. On the return of antiquities from wartime storage in 1919, some objects were found to have deteriorated. A temporary conservation laboratory was set up in May 1920 and became a permanent department in 1931. It is today the oldest in continuous existence.^[26] In 1923, the British Museum, welcomed over one million visitors.
Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 749 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1275 × 1021 pixel, file size: 211 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Left to Right; Sir T.E.Lawrence and Sir Leonard Woolley standing beside a Hittitie slab found during excavations at Carchemish, Syria (1911... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 749 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1275 × 1021 pixel, file size: 211 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Left to Right; Sir T.E.Lawrence and Sir Leonard Woolley standing beside a Hittitie slab found during excavations at Carchemish, Syria (1911... Lawrence of Arabia redirects here. ... Sir Charles Leonard Woolley (17 April 1880–20 February 1960) was a British archaeologist, best known for his excavations at Ur in Sumerancient Mesopotamia. ... Relief of Suppiluliuma II, last known king of the Hittite Empire The Hittites were an ancient people from Kaneš who spoke an Indo-European language, and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa (Hittite URU) in north-central Anatolia from the 18th century BC. In the 14th century BC, the Hittite... Carchemish (pr. ... Image:AurelStein. ... David George Hogarth (born May 23, 1862 in Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire; died November 6, 1927 in Oxford) was an English archaeologist and scholar, associated with T. E. Lawrence and Arthur Evans. ... Sir Charles Leonard Woolley (17 April 1880–20 February 1960) was a British archaeologist, best known for his excavations at Ur in Sumerancient Mesopotamia. ... Lawrence of Arabia redirects here. ... Carchemish (pr. ... The front of the building The National Library of Wales (Welsh: Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru) is the national legal deposit library of Wales, located in Aberystwyth. ... Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England . ...

Disruption and reconstruction (1925-50)

New mezzanine floors were constructed and book stacks rebuilt in an attempt to cope with the flood of books. In 1931 the art dealer Sir Joseph Duveen offered funds to build a gallery for the Parthenon sculptures. Designed by the American architect John Russell Pope, it was completed in 1938. The appearance of the exhibition galleries began to change as dark Victorian reds gave way to modern pastel shades ^[f]. However, in August 1939, due to the imminence of war and the likelihood of air-raids the Parthenon Sculptures along with Museum's most valued collections were dispersed to secure basements, country houses, Aldwych tube station, the National Library of Wales and a quarry. The evacuation was timely, for in 1940 the Duveen Gallery was severely damaged by bombing.^[27] The Museum continued to collect from all countries and all centuries: among the most spectacular additions were the 2,600 BC Mesopotamian treasure from Ur, discovered during Leonard Woolley's 1922–34 excavations. Gold, silver and garnet grave goods from the Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo (1939) and late Roman silver tableware from Mildenhall, Suffolk (1946). The immediate post-war years were taken up with the return of the collections from protection and the restoration of the museum after the blitz. Work also began on restoring the damaged Duveen Gallery. Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mezzanine may refer to: Mezzanine (architecture), an intermediate floor between main floors of a building In technology, a mezzanine can refer to a thin sheet of plastic insulating different parts of circuitry from each other in cramped environments, such as laptop interiors. ... Joseph Duveen (1869 – 1939), later made Baron Duveen of Millbank, was one of the most influential art dealers of all time. ... Metope from the Elgin marbles depicting a Centaur and a Lapith fighting. ... The Jefferson Memorial, built 1939 — 1943 John Russell Pope (April 24, 1874 – August 27, 1937) was an architect most known for his designs of the Jefferson Memorial (completed in 1943) and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art (completed in 1941) in Washington, DC. Pope was born in... A country house is a large dwelling, such as a mansion, located on a country estate. ... Aldwych tube station is a disused station formerly on the Piccadilly Line of the London Underground. ... The front of the building The National Library of Wales (Welsh: Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru) is the national legal deposit library of Wales, located in Aberystwyth. ... Mesopotamia was a cradle of civilization geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq. ... For other uses, see Ur (disambiguation). ... Sir Charles Leonard Woolley (17 April 1880–20 February 1960) was a British archaeologist, best known for his excavations at Ur in Sumerancient Mesopotamia. ... Garnet is a group of minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. ... For other uses, see Anglo-Saxon. ... Sutton Hoo ceremonial helmet (British Museum, restored). ... This article is about the village of Mildenhall, Suffolk. ... Suffolk (pronounced ) is a large historic and modern non-metropolitan county in East Anglia, England. ... This article should be transwikied to wiktionary The term post-war is generally used for the period after the end of World War II, i. ... For other uses, see Blitz. ...

A new public face (1950-75)

The re-opened Duveen Gallery, (1980)

In 1953 the Museum celebrated its bicentenary. Many changes followed: the first full time in house designer and publications officer were appointed in 1964, A Friends organisation was set up in 1968, an Education Service established in 1970 and publishing house in 1973. In 1963 a new Act of Parliament introduced administrative reforms. It became easier to lend objects, the constitution of the Board of Trustees changed and the Natural History Museum became fully independent. By 1959 the Coins and Medals office suite, completely destroyed during the war, was rebuilt and re-opened, attention turned towards the gallery work with new tastes in design leading to the remodelling of Robert Smirke's Classical and Near Eastern galleries.^[28] In 1962 the Duveen Gallery was finally restored and the Parthenon Sculptures were moved back into it, once again at the heart of the museum.^[g] Image File history File links Size of this preview: 428 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2132 × 2988 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 428 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2132 × 2988 pixel, file size: 2. ... La Belle Ferronière, sold by Duveen as a Leonardo da Vinci Joseph Duveen, 1st Baron Duveen (October 14, 1869 Hull – May 25, 1939 London) was one of the most influential art dealers of all time. ... Two hundred year anniversary. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Board of directors. ... For other similarly-named museums see Museum of Natural History. ... Sir Robert Smirke (1781-18 April 1867) was a leading 19th century British architect. ...

By the 1970s the Museum was again expanding. More services for the public were introduced; visitor numbers soared, with the temporary exhibition "Treasures of Tutankhamun" in 1972, attracting 1,694,117 visitors, the most successful in British history. In the same year the Act of Parliament establishing the British Library was passed, separating the collection of manuscripts and printed books from the British Museum. This left the Museum with antiquities; coins, medals and paper money; prints & drawings; and ethnography. A pressing problem was finding space for additions to the library which now required an extra 1 1/4 miles of shelving each year. The Government suggested a site at St Pancras for the new British Library but the books did not leave the museum until 1997. King Tut redirects here. ... A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ... Ethnography ( ethnos = people and graphein = writing) is the genre of writing that presents varying degrees of qualitative and quantitative descriptions of human social phenomena, based on fieldwork. ... Things called Saint Pancras or St Pancras include: The saint after whom the others are directly or indirectly named: Saint Pancras. ...

The Great Court emerges (1975-2000)

Great Court - Quadrangle and Robert Smirke's Round Reading Room

The departure of the British Library to a new site at St Pancras, finally achieved in 1998, provided the space needed for the books. It also created the opportunity to redevelop the vacant space in Robert Smirke's 19th-century central quadrangle into the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court – the largest covered square in Europe – which opened in 2000. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 515 pixel Image in higher resolution (2100 × 1353 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 515 pixel Image in higher resolution (2100 × 1353 pixel, file size: 1. ... View of the Great Court. ... Sir Robert Smirke (1781-18 April 1867) was a leading 19th century British architect. ... St Pancras is the name of a place in London. ... Sir Robert Smirke (1781-18 April 1867) was a leading 19th century British architect. ... View of the Great Court. ...

The ethnography collections, which had been housed in the short-lived Museum of Mankind at 6 Burlington Gardens from 1970, were returned to new purpose-built galleries. The Museum of Mankind was a museum in Burlington Gardens, Piccadilly, London. ...

The Museum again readjusted its collecting policies as interest in "modern" objects: prints, drawings, medals and the decorative arts reawakened. Ethnographical fieldwork was carried out in places as diverse as New Guinea, Madagascar, Romania, Guatemala and Indonesia and there were excavations in the Near East, Egypt, Sudan and the UK. The Weston Gallery of Roman Britain, opened in 1997, displayed a number of recently discovered hoards which demonstrated the richness of what had been considered an unimportant part of the Roman Empire. The Museum turned increasingly towards private funds for buildings, acquisitions and other purposes.^[29] Inhabitants of the Near East, late nineteenth century. ... The Weston family of Canada and the United Kingdom are prominent businesspeople with global interests in food and clothing businesses. ... For the software, see hoard memory allocator. ...

The Museum today

African Garden - The British Museum Facade - created by BBC TV programme Ground Force

The Museum was founded 250 years ago as an encyclopædia of nature and of art. Today it no longer houses collections of natural history, and the books and manuscripts it once held now form part of the independent British Library. The Museum nevertheless preserves its universality in its collections of artefacts representing the cultures of the world, ancient and modern. The original 1753 collection has grown to over thirteen million objects at the British Museum, 70 million at the Natural History Museum and 150 million at the British Library. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1600 × 1200 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1600 × 1200 pixel, file size: 1. ... The Ground Force Team From (L) Tommy Walsh, Alan Titchmarsh and Charlie Dimmock. ... Table of natural history, 1728 Cyclopaedia Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now often viewed as several distinct scientific disciplines of integrative organismal biology. ... For other similarly-named museums see Museum of Natural History. ...

The Round Reading Room, which was designed by the architect Sydney Smirke, opened in 1857. For almost 150 years researchers came here to consult the Museum's vast library. The Reading Room closed in 1997 when the national library (the British Library) moved to a new building at St Pancras. Today it has been transformed into the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Centre. This contains the Paul Hamlyn Library of books about the Museum's collections, which is open to all visitors.^[30] The British Museum Reading Room, situated in the centre of the Great Court of the British Museu