British Museum in London: Visitor’s Guide

The British Museum in London, England, was established in 1753 to receive the legacy of the scientist Sir Hans Sloane. Sloane’s legacy, housed in a villa in Bloomsbury, included more than 70,000 items such as books and manuscripts, natural history artifacts, and classical, oriental, and American antiquities. Over the next fifty years, it was enriched by other donations, especially of books.

British Museum in London: History

Starting from the 19th century, the collection began to specialize in antiquities: after returning from the Battle of the Nile against Napoleon’s troops, many Egyptian sculptures, including the Rosetta Stone, arrived at the British Museum. Some English ambassadors bought or simply took archaeological finds from the countries where they served. The most famous and debated case is that of Lord Elgin, who brought the Parthenon Marbles and parts of other monuments from the Acropolis of Athens to London. From mid-century onwards, the British Museum also sponsored numerous archaeological expeditions that further increased its holdings.

The neoclassical and larger venue we know today was thus built, and a selection process took place: all natural history specimens were transferred to the Natural History Museum, and with the establishment of the National Gallery, the idea of developing a collection of prints and paintings was abandoned.

Until the end of the 20th century, the British Museum was an exhibition space focused on archaeology and antiquities up to the English Middle Ages; the entire eastern wing of the ground floor housed the King George III’s Library with a precious manuscript collection. At the center of the inner courtyard was the Reading Room, the iconic reading room used by Gandhi, Karl Marx, George Orwell, and Oscar Wilde.

The British Museum Today

The end of the 20th century brought significant changes that we see in the museum’s current configuration. In 1997, the collection of books and manuscripts was transferred to the new British Library premises next to St Pancras Station. This freed up the entire eastern wing of the ground floor and the Reading Room.

The inner courtyard was covered with a glass roof, a remarkable work by Norman Foster, and transformed into a large square connecting all wings of the building. The eastern side now houses two large thematic galleries dedicated respectively to the Enlightenment and the history of collecting. Their aim is to explain the factors that fueled the birth and development of the British Museum: on one side the centrality of reason and consequently scientific research, typical of the 18th century, and on the other the importance of private donations.

Additionally, there was an effort to recover the institution’s original spirit, moving away from the almost exclusive focus on archaeology. However, the encyclopedic museum concept was abandoned in favor of positioning as the “Museum of the World,” allowing visitors to journey through two million years of human history and culture. To achieve this, three rooms on the first floor were dedicated to European art from 1400 to the present day, and, most importantly, ethnographic collections previously housed in the Museum of Mankind were relocated back to Bloomsbury.

Without intending to criticize this approach, the risk for visitors is feeling the itinerary a bit overwhelming, partly due to the vast number of displayed items. Therefore, here we suggest a roughly 3-hour itinerary, guiding visitors through historical periods to discover the collection’s most important pieces.

British Museum, What to See: The Must-See Works and Attractions

Egyptian Sculpture

Immediately upon entering the main entrance, you are in the Great Court. Passing through the first door on the left, you immediately take a journey thousands of years back: you will be in the large gallery dedicated to Egyptian sculpture, dominated by statues, steles, and sarcophagi of large size covering the entire historical arc of this civilization.

A place of honor in the gallery is reserved for the Rosetta Stone, the black stone bearing a decree of the Hellenistic king Ptolemy V written in three languages: Egyptian hieroglyphic, demotic Egyptian, and Greek. The presence of the Greek language allowed the deciphering of hieroglyphs and opened new horizons for Egyptological studies.

The largest sculpture in the gallery is the fragment of the statue of Ramses II from Karnak, about a thousand years older than the Rosetta Stone. Only the head with part of the torso survives, totaling more than two and a half meters in height. Together with a twin statue, it was part of the monumental entrance to the pharaoh’s tomb. Sculptures like this were conceived as vessels of the deity represented and thus had to endure forever, hence their large size and the use of very hard stones for carving.

Assyrian Sculpture

After the Egyptian sculpture gallery, you are greeted by two impressive winged lions with human faces guarding the entrance to the section dedicated to Assyrian sculpture. The lions came from the palace of King Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud (in present-day northern Iraq) and date back to the 9th century BC.

The most important pieces of this section are the friezes from royal palaces housed in adjacent rooms: from Nimrud’s palace in rooms 7 and 8, from Nineveh in room 9, and from the palaces of Assurbanipal at Nimrud and Sargon II at Khorsabad in room 10. The scenes primarily depict court life, war, and hunting. Lion hunting, in particular, was a royal prerogative symbolizing the king’s duty to protect his people. The reliefs are so clear and detailed that you can follow them as if watching a movie.

Greek Art

The rooms dedicated to Greek art are a celebration of pottery, architecture, and sculpture. Entering room 17 for the first time often takes your breath away: you face the monument of the Nereids of Xanthus, a mausoleum shaped like a Greek temple with a high sculpted podium. The monument is believed to be the tomb of Arbinas, ruler of Western Lycia in the 4th century BC.

The next room is dedicated to the Parthenon Marbles, rightly given a place of honor. Considered the pinnacle of classical Greek art, the Parthenon was dedicated to Athena, protector of Athens, and celebrated the city’s golden age under Pericles. The sculptures on the pediments (by Phidias) and the metopes depict mythological scenes, while the frieze along the long sides shows the Panathenaic procession, the religious festival honoring the goddess’s birthday.

Room 19 houses artifacts from other Acropolis of Athens monuments, including the Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion, where a caryatid, one of the six female statues serving as columns, is displayed.

Before leaving the first floor, it’s worth visiting room 21 dedicated to the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, this monument was inspired by the Nereids of Xanthus but was much larger, more extravagant, and richer in sculptures and friezes. The huge horse sculpture exhibited at the British Museum was part of a quadriga group placed on top of the stepped roof.

The Egyptian Funerary World

While the ground floor of the British Museum is mostly used for exhibiting sculpture and architectural fragments for practical reasons, the first-floor rooms display smaller objects. Thus, alongside the formality and emphasis of some artworks, much space is given to everyday objects.

This is the case, for example, in the Egyptian rooms, particularly popular are rooms 61 to 63, dedicated to the fascinating funerary world. Room 61 exhibits the funeral equipment and paintings from the tomb of Nebamun. The paintings particularly give an idea of the lively visual impact of Egyptian tombs. Rooms 62 and 63 host a large collection of sarcophagi, mummies (including animals), and funerary objects. 

The Ur Standard

The first-floor rooms dedicated to the Near East (rooms 52 to 59) explore the historical evolution of the various civilizations that succeeded one another in that geographic area over millennia (including Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites, Phoenicians, Persians).

A stop is deserved for the famous Standard of Ur, a Sumerian work from around 2500 BC, displayed in room 56. The object is a wooden panel inlaid with lapis lazuli, shell, and mother-of-pearl, probably mounted on a pole and carried in procession. One side depicts scenes of war, while the other shows peace scenes following military success: a banquet, thanksgiving sacrifices to deities, and slaves carrying the loot. The story unfolds in panels like a comic strip, and the Standard of Ur is considered the highest example of this narrative style in Mesopotamia.

Daily Life in Ancient Greece and Rome

The aspects of daily life in Greece and Rome are extensively depicted in room 69. Don’t expect just a parade of artworks, but rather a rich, thoughtful selection of everyday objects grouped by aspects of common life in the classical world.

However, if aesthetics are a must, room 70 displays the beautiful Portland Vase from the Augustan era: a cobalt blue vase with white glass cameo decorations. The depicted subject is somewhat controversial, but the delicacy of the figures and the presence of Eros with his bow suggest it was a precious wedding gift. When acquired, the vase was completely shattered, so its reconstruction earned a distinct chapter in restoration history.

The Early Middle Ages and the Sutton Hoo Site

Room 41 is dedicated to the period of European history marking the transition from the end of the Roman Empire to the origins of modern states (3rd-11th centuries AD).

A special area is devoted to the Sutton Hoo site in Suffolk. Excavations revealed two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries dating from the 6th and 7th centuries AD. Besides mound burials, the most remarkable find was a funerary ship. Although the wooden parts have fully decayed over time, their impressions on the ground and the metal rivets remaining in their original positions allowed an exact reconstruction of its shape. The burial goods are particularly rich and include garnet-decorated weapons, silver cups, a helmet, a six-string lyre, and exquisite gold ornaments.

Ethnographic Collections

The rooms visited so far belong to the British Museum’s classical collection. But as mentioned, the museum’s new concept also includes some interesting ethnographic collections spread throughout the building’s floors. The basement showcases artifacts from Africa, while the upper floors display collections from North America, Mexico, China, India, Korea, South Asia, and Japan.

The last marvel we recommend is displayed in the room dedicated to the theme of life and death (room 24 on the ground floor): one of the mysterious statues from Easter Island.

British Museum: Opening Hours and Useful Information

The British Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission to the permanent collection is free, while temporary exhibitions require payment. Currently, it is necessary to book your entry on the www.britishmuseum.org site and follow the indicated route. Some rooms are closed.

British Museum: Metro and Bus

The British Museum is easily reachable by underground (stations Holborn and Tottenham Court Road) and by numerous buses (the most convenient is bus 14).

British Museum: Admission Price

Visiting the British Museum is free of charge. However, we suggest some things to do and see in London with skip-the-line tickets.

British Museum: In Brief

The British Museum is undoubtedly one of the most important and famous tourist attractions in the multicultural British capital, London.

The city on the Thames hosts a series of fascinating museums famous worldwide, but the British Museum is the leading one in terms of number (over eight million objects) and prestige of the works it contains. An important aspect is that, like all other city museums except for the wax museum (Madame Tussauds), it is free to enter. This represents a praiseworthy London exception to the rule, as culture is paid for in the vast majority of other world cities.

The British Museum was founded in 1753 by the physician and scientist Hans Sloane and is one of the few museums worldwide capable of documenting humanity’s presence through paintings, sculptures, and other objects, spanning from the dawn of humanity through all centuries to today. It houses artifacts identifying all the world’s cultures, both contemporary and from centuries past.

The museum is divided into nine different sections: Africa and the Americas, Ancient Near East, Asia, Britain and Europe, Egypt, Greece and Rome, Japan, Coins and Medals, Prints and Drawings.

Among the most famous and prestigious works in the British Museum are the Rosetta Stone (a stone slab inscribed in hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek), Egyptian mummies, the Parthenon sculptures, and the Oxus treasure.

This treasure trove of priceless items is only a small part of the immense artistic-cultural-architectural heritage London can boast. One week is the most suitable time to admire all the city’s top attractions.