British Museum in London: a visitor’s guide

The British Museum in London, England, was established in 1753 to receive the inheritance of the scientist Sir Hans Sloane. The bequest of Sloane, which was housed in a villa in Bloomsbury, included more than 70,000 items including books and manuscripts, natural history specimens, and classical, oriental, and American antiquities. In the following fifty years it was enriched by other donations, especially libraries.

British Museum in London: the history

Starting from the nineteenth century, the collection tended to specialize in antiquities: after the return from the Battle of the Nile against Napoleon’s troops, numerous Egyptian sculptures arrived at the British Museum, including the Rosetta Stone. Some English ambassadors purchased, or simply took possession of, archaeological finds from the countries where they served. The most famous and controversial case is that of Lord Elgin who brought the Parthenon Marbles and parts of other monuments from the Acropolis of Athens to London. From the mid-century onwards, the British Museum also promoted numerous archaeological expeditions, which allowed the institution to further increase its heritage.

The building we know today, neoclassical and larger, was constructed, and a selection was made: all natural history specimens were transferred to the Natural History Museum, and with the birth of the National Gallery, the idea of developing the graphic and painting collection was abandoned.

Until the end of the twentieth 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 was occupied by the King George III’s Library with a precious exhibition of manuscripts. In the center of the inner courtyard is 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 are reflected in the current configuration of the museum. In 1997, in fact, the collection of books and manuscripts was transferred to the new headquarters of the British Library, 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 ceiling, a remarkable work by Norman Foster, and transformed into a large square connecting all the wings of the building. The eastern side now hosts two large thematic galleries, dedicated respectively to the Enlightenment and the history of collecting. Their purpose is to explain the factors that inspired the birth and development of the British Museum: on one hand there is the centrality of reason, and consequently scientific research, typical of the eighteenth century, and on the other the importance of private donations.

Furthermore, an effort was made to recover the original spirit of the institution, at the expense of the almost exclusive specialization in archaeology. However, abandoning the idea of an encyclopedic museum, the “Museum of the World” positioning was embraced, through which it is possible to travel through two million years of human history and culture. To do this, 3 rooms on the first floor were dedicated to European art from 1400 to the present day and, above all, the ethnographic collections, previously housed in the Museum of Mankind, were brought back to Bloomsbury.

Without wishing to criticize this approach, the risk for the public is to find the path somewhat dispersive, also due to the very large number of pieces on display. Therefore, here we suggest an itinerary lasting about 3 hours, trying to guide the visitor through the various historical periods, discovering the most important pieces of the collection.

British Museum, what to see: works and attractions not to miss

Egyptian sculpture

As soon as you enter from the main entrance, you find yourself in the Great Court. Crossing the first door on the left, you immediately take a journey back in time of thousands of years: you will find yourself in the large gallery dedicated to Egyptian sculpture, dominated by statues, steles, and large sarcophagi that cover the entire historical span of this civilization.

A place of honor in the gallery is reserved for the Rosetta Stone, the black stone bearing a decree from the Hellenistic king Ptolemy V written in three languages, Egyptian hieroglyphic, Egyptian demotic, and Greek. The presence of the Greek language allowed the deciphering of the hieroglyphic script and opened up new horizons in 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 and part of the torso have survived to us, with a total height of more than two and a half meters. Together with a twin statue, it was part of the monumental entrance to the pharaoh’s tomb. Sculptures like this were conceived to be a vehicle for the divinity of the represented figure and therefore had to last forever: hence the explanation for the large size and the particularly hard stones in which they were carved.

Assyrian sculpture

After walking through the Egyptian sculpture gallery, you are welcomed by two imposing winged lions with human faces guarding the doorway that leads to the Assyrian sculpture section of the museum. 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 in this section are the friezes from the royal palaces, displayed in adjacent rooms: from Nimrud’s palace in rooms 7 and 8, from Nineveh in room 9, and from the palaces of Ashurbanipal at Nimrud and of Sargon II at Khorsabad in room 10. They mainly depict scenes of court, war, and hunting. Lion hunting, in particular, was a prerogative of kings and symbolized the ruler’s commitment to protecting his people. The reliefs are so clear and detailed that they can be followed as if watching a film.

Greek art

The rooms dedicated to Greek art are a triumph of vase art, architecture, and sculpture. Entering room 17 for the first time often feels like a blow to the heart: you are faced with the monument of the Nereids of Xanthus, a mausoleum shaped like a Greek temple with a high sculpted podium. It is believed that the monument was the tomb of Arbinas, ruler of Western Lycia in the 4th century BC.

The next room is dedicated to the Parthenon friezes, rightly given a place of honor. Considered the highest point of classical Greek art, the Parthenon was dedicated to Athena, protector of Athens, and celebrated with its majesty the city’s peak under the leadership of Pericles. The sculptures of the pediments (by Phidias) and the metopes depict mythological scenes, while the frieze running along the building’s long sides depicts the Panathenaic procession, the religious festival for the goddess’s birthday.

Room 19 houses artifacts from other monuments on the Acropolis of Athens, including the temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion, which features a caryatid, one of six female statues serving as columns.

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

The Egyptian funerary world

While the ground floor of the British Museum is, for obvious practical reasons, mainly used to display sculptures and architectural fragments, the rooms on the first floor showcase smaller objects. Thus, alongside the formality and emphasis of some works of art, considerable space is given to everyday objects.

This is the case, for example, in the Egyptian rooms, among which numbers 61 to 63 are particularly popular as they are dedicated to the fascinating funerary world. In room 61, the burial goods and paintings from the tomb of Nebamun are displayed. The paintings, in particular, allow us to get an idea of the vivid visual impact of Egyptian tombs. Rooms 62 and 63 house 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 various civilizations that succeeded each other in that geographic area over millennia (including Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites, Phoenicians, Persians).

A stop is well worth 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 and was probably mounted on a pole and carried in procession. One side depicts scenes of war, while the other side shows scenes of peace following military success: a banquet, thanksgiving sacrifices to the gods, and slaves carrying the spoils. The narrative unfolds in bands, like a comic strip, and the Standard of Ur is considered the highest example of this narrative mode in Mesopotamia.

Everyday life in ancient Greece and Rome

The aspects of everyday life in Greece and Rome are extensively described in room 69. You should not expect a parade of artworks, but rather a rich and thoughtful selection of everyday objects grouped according to aspects of common life in the classical world.

However, if you do not want to give up aesthetics, room 70 displays the beautiful Portland Vase from the Augustan period: it is a cobalt blue vase with white cameo glass decorations. The subject depicted is rather controversial, but the delicacy of the figures and the presence of Eros with his bow have suggested a precious wedding gift. When the vase was acquired, it was completely fragmented. Therefore, its reconstruction earned its own chapter in the history of restoration.

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 origin of modern states (3rd–11th centuries AD).

A particular space is reserved for the site of Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk. The excavations uncovered two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries dated respectively to the 6th and 7th centuries AD. Besides the burial mounds, the most remarkable find was that of a funeral ship. Although the wooden parts have completely decayed over time, their imprint on the ground and the metal rivets still in their original position have allowed the exact shape to be reconstructed. The burial goods are particularly rich and include weapons decorated with garnets, silver cups, a helmet, a six-stringed lyre, and beautiful gold ornaments of exquisite craftsmanship.

The ethnographic collections

The rooms visited so far belong to the classical collection of the British Museum. But, as mentioned, the museum’s new concept also includes some interesting ethnographic collections, distributed across all floors of the building. In the basement, you can admire artifacts from Africa, while the upper floors contain collections from North America, Mexico, China, India, Korea, South Asia, and Japan.

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

British Museum: opening hours and useful information

The British Museum is open every day from 10 am to 6 pm. Admission to the permanent collection is free, while temporary exhibitions require a fee. Currently, it is necessary to book entry on the website www.britishmuseum.org and follow the indicated path. Some rooms are closed.

British Museum: metro and bus

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

British Museum: price

The visit to the British Museum is free. However, we suggest some things to do and see in London skipping the line.

British Museum: overview

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

The city along the Thames hosts a series of fascinating and world-famous museums, but the British Museum is the main one in terms of number (over eight million objects) and the prestige of the works it contains. A notable aspect is that, like all other city museums except the wax museum (Madame Tussauds), it offers free entry. This is a commendable exception in London, given that in the vast majority of other cities worldwide, culture comes at a cost.

The British Museum was built in 1753 by the doctor and scientist Hans Sloane and is one of the few museums in the world capable of bearing witness, through paintings, sculptures, and other objects, to the presence of mankind from the dawn of humanity through all centuries up to the present day. Inside, it houses artifacts representing all the world’s cultures, both contemporary and from past centuries.

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

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

This treasure chest of priceless riches is only a small part of the immense artistic, cultural, and architectural heritage that London boasts. One week is the most suitable amount of time to admire all the major attractions of the Queen’s city.