BRITISH MUSEUM
The world’s oldest national public museum has over 8 million items spanning the history of the world’s cultures, from the stone tools of early man to 21st-century artworks. The collection was started with the bequest of physician and antiquarian Sir Hans Sloane in 1753. In the 18th and 19th centuries, travelers and emissaries, such as Captain James Cook, Lord Curzon, and Charles Townley, added treasures from around the world. The present building was completed in 1852. The central courtyard is used as a public space.
NEED TO KNOW
Great Russell Street WC1 • 020 7323 8000 • www.britishmuseum.org • Open 10am–5:30pm Sat–Thu, 10am–8:30pm Fri. • Adm free, except major temporary exhibitions • Free guided tours
Great Court: 10am–5:30pm Sat–Thu, 10am–8:30pm Fri
- The Great Court’s Reading Room is closed to the public.
- There are two cafés, a pizzeria, and the fine-dining Great Court Restaurant.
- Picnic in the forecourt by the main entrance.
- Highlights tours ($18) introduce the collection.
- The British Museum shop sells reproduction artifacts, books, jewelry, and gifts.
Museum Guide
Free maps are available and guides are on sale at the information desks. Otherwise start to the left of the main entrance with the Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman galleries. The Asian collection provides a change from Classical artifacts, as do the early British, medieval, and Renaissance galleries on the east side.
Museum Floor Plan
1. Parthenon Sculptures
This spectacular 5th-century BCE frieze from Athens’ Parthenon was made under Pericles and shows a procession in honor of the goddess Athena. It was obtained in 1801 by Lord Elgin, ambassador of the Ottoman Empire.
Freize from Athens’ Parthenon
2. Mummified Cat
Cats and sacred cows were mummified in Ancient Egypt. This cat comes from Abydos and dates from the 1st century CE. Many Egyptian deities took on animal shapes, as seen on wall paintings and other artifacts.
Mummified Cat
3. Ram in a Thicket
Decorated with shells, gold leaf, copper, and lapis lazuli, this priceless ornament comes from Ur in Sumer, one of the world’s earliest civilizations. Games and musical instruments are also displayed.
4. Double-Headed Serpent Mosaic
Carved in wood and covered with turquoise mosaic, this Aztec ornament was probably worn on the chest on ceremonial occasions.
5. Rosetta Stone
In 196 BCE Egyptian priests wrote a decree about Ptolemy V on this granite tablet in Greek, in demotic, and in Egyptian hieroglyphics. Found in 1799, it proved crucial in deciphering Egyptian pictorial writing.
6. Portland Vase
It is not known where and when this 1st-century blue and opaque glass vase was found. In 1778, it was purchased by Sir William Hamilton, Britain’s ambassador to Naples, who sold it to the Duchess of Portland. It had to be reassembled after a visitor smashed it into 200 pieces in 1845.
7. David Vases
These blue and white porcelain altar vases dating from c. 1351 were made in Jingdezhen, China. They feature elephant handles in addition to various motifs.
8. Mildenhall Treasure
Some of the greatest early English treasures are these silver plates from the 4th century, found at Mildenhall in Suffolk. Their decorations include sea nymphs, satyrs, and Hercules.
Mildenhall Treasure
9. Ramses II
This is all that remains of the colossal granite statue of Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II (c. 1279 BCE) from his memorial temple at Thebes. Its arrival in England in the 19th century is said to have inspired the poet Shelley to write the poem Ozymandias.
Ramses II
10. Mask of the Nulthamalth
The Nulthamalth (or fool dancer) is an important figure among Canada’s Kwakwaka’wakw people. He is said to enforce correct behavior. This indigenous group lives in the Pacific Northwest coastal region.
