The British Museum is not just a collection of antiquities. It is the world`s first national public museum, created by an Act of Parliament in 1753 and opened its doors to "all studious and curious persons" in 1759. Today it is one of the largest and most visited museum collections on the planet: about eight million exhibits covering two million years of human history.
But it is not only about scale. The British Museum is the place where the very idea of the public museum was born and took shape. Before it, collections were the property of monarchs and aristocrats. After it, knowledge became common. Admission here is still free today — a rare example of how enlightenment can be generous.
The history of the British Museum: from a cabinet of curiosities to an imperial collection
1753: the birth of the museum
The history of the British Museum begins with one man — Sir Hans Sloane, a physician and President of the Royal Society. Sloane collected more than 80,000 "natural and artificial rarities", a library of 40,000 books and manuscripts, and 32,000 coins and medals. He used the global networks created by European imperial expansion. In 1753, an Act of Parliament purchased Sloane`s collection for the nation. To it were added the Cotton and Harley libraries. Thus a new type of public institution was born — the British Museum.
The 18th–19th centuries: the growth of the collection and a new building
Initially the museum was housed in Montagu House — a 17th-century mansion in Bloomsbury. But the collection grew rapidly. In 1772 the government bought a collection of ancient Greek and Etruscan vases. In 1802 a collection of Egyptian antiquities arrived, including the Rosetta Stone. In 1816 — the Parthenon sculptures, taken by Lord Elgin from Ottoman Greece.
By 1823 Montagu House could no longer contain the treasures. It began to be demolished to make way for a new building in the Greek architectural style designed by Sir Robert Smirke. Construction was completed in 1852. The colonnade and portico through which visitors enter today are part of this design.
The 20th–21st centuries: reconstruction and rethinking
In 1857 the famous domed Round Reading Room opened. In the 20th century the natural history collection was separated into a distinct Natural History Museum. During the Second World War the collections were evacuated, and the building itself was damaged by air raids.
In 2000 a transformation took place that changed the museum: the architect Norman Foster covered the inner courtyard with a glass roof, creating the Great Court — the largest covered public space in Europe. At its centre remained the Round Reading Room, where Karl Marx and Virginia Woolf once worked.
Today the museum continues to acquire exhibits — both ancient and modern. In 2015 the Lampedusa Cross arrived here, made by an Italian carpenter from the wreckage of refugee boats.
The main treasures of the British Museum: what not to miss
The Rosetta Stone
The museum`s most popular exhibit. This granite stele, created in 196 BC, contains the same text in three languages: ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic script and ancient Greek. It was this that provided the key to deciphering hieroglyphs and became the cornerstone of modern Egyptology. The queues for it are the longest — come at opening time.
The Parthenon sculptures
Sculptures that adorned the Athenian Parthenon about 2,500 years ago. The frieze, the metopes, the pediment figures — this is the pinnacle of ancient Greek art, taken to Britain by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century. Their presence here still causes disputes about repatriation, but to see them in the flesh means to understand what classical harmony is.
Egyptian mummies
One of the largest collections of mummies outside Egypt. Sarcophagi, burial masks, amulets, mummies of people and sacred animals. It is at once spectacular and somewhat eerie — and that is precisely why there is always a queue here.
The Lewis Chessmen
Twelve chess pieces of walrus ivory, found in 1831 on the Scottish island of Lewis. Created in the 12th century in Norway or Iceland, they look like fantasy characters — and remain among the most recognisable exhibits of the museum.
Assyrian reliefs
Scenes of the royal lion hunt, carved on stone slabs from the palace of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh. This is one of the greatest masterpieces of Assyrian art — dramatic, cruel and incredibly detailed.
Sutton Hoo
The burial goods of an Anglo-Saxon ship, found in 1939 in Suffolk. A gold buckle, a helmet, a shield, coins — evidence of the wealth and craftsmanship of early medieval England.
The Hoa Hakananai`a statue
A basalt statue from Easter Island. On its back are carved symbols of the bird-man cult. For the Rapa Nui people it is of enormous significance, and its presence in London is the subject of ongoing negotiations.
The layout of the British Museum: how to find your way
The Great Court
The heart of the museum. The glass roof, designed by Norman Foster, unites the space around the Round Reading Room. Here are the cafe, the shop, the information desk and the entrances to the main galleries. This is the ideal place to get your bearings and plan a route.
Levels and rooms
The museum is organised on a geographical and chronological principle. The main zones:
• Ancient Egypt — the Rosetta Stone, sculptures, mummies;
• Ancient Greece and Rome — the Parthenon sculptures, the Nereids, vases;
• The Near East — Assyria, Babylon, Urartu;
• Europe — Sutton Hoo, the Lewis Chessmen, medieval art;
• Asia — China, Japan, Korea, India;
• Africa, America, Oceania — ethnographic collections.
Routes around the British Museum
The museum offers ready-made routes — from an hour-long express tour to a three-hour circuit of the main masterpieces. If you have little time, start with the Rosetta Stone, then go up to the Parthenon, then to the mummies. If you have half a day — add Assyria, Sutton Hoo and Asia.
Practical information
Opening hours
Daily from 10:00 to 17:00. On Fridays — until 20:30. The museum is closed on 24–26 December.
Tickets
Admission is free. It is recommended to book a free ticket in advance on the official website — this gives priority entry during peak hours. Some temporary exhibitions are paid.
What you should know
• Security: all visitors pass through a security check. Large bags and wheeled suitcases are prohibited.
• Queues: in peak season the queues can be long even with a ticket. Come at opening time.
• Time: allow at least 3 hours to see the main galleries. A full circuit may take a whole day.
• Children: the museum offers free family routes and activities for children of all ages.
• Food: in the Great Court there is a cafe and a restaurant. You can leave and return on the same day.
• Photos: permitted, but without flash. Tripods and selfie sticks may be restricted.
• Contested pages of history: the museum acknowledges that many exhibits were acquired during the colonial era and is working to rethink this history.
The British Museum is not just a place where antiquities are kept. It is a lesson in how humanity collected, lost, found and made sense of its past. Here you can spend an hour or a day, see the Rosetta Stone and a mummy, a statue from Easter Island and the gold of an Anglo-Saxon king. And leave with the feeling that history is not a distant abstraction, but something tangible that can be seen with your own eyes.
