British Museum

The British Museum is an institution of human history and culture, located in the capital of England, London.

The Museum is under the management of the Department for Culture and Media and Sport.

The British Museum was first established as a “universal museum” thanks to the great support of the physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane. His collection was composed of around 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, 337 species of dried plants, prints and drawings as well as many antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Ancient Near, Far Fast and the Americas.

The Museum became officially a British Museum on 7 June 1753 and the Sloane’s collection was supplemented by two libraries, the Cottonian library and the Harleian library. The Museum was also expanded with the accession to it the 17th –century mansion, Montagu House.

In 1784 the museum acquired а great collection of Greek and Roman artefacts, sold to the museum by Sir William Hamilton.

In 1822 the museum was donated with the personal library of King George III which was so rich in items that the museum had to be considered for expansion. The new King’s Library Gallery was established in the place of already being destroyed Montagu House.

Due to highly increase in the number of museum collections, in 1895 69 houses were purchased with the idea to be collapsed as their place would be occupied by the construction of the new wings of the museum.

All the museum exhibits are divided into nine departments: Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan; Department of Greek and Roman antiquities; Department of the Middle East; Department of prints and drawings; Department of Asia; Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas; Department of Coins and Medals; Department of Prehistory and Europe; Department of Conservation, Documentation and Science.

The Ancient Egypt and Sudan department hosts one of the richest collections of Egyptian antiquities out of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Museo Egizio in Turin. Among the most significant items are the works of the Rosetta Stone, the Wendorf Collection of Egyptian and Sudanese Prehistory as well as the collection of 140 mummies and coffins.

The Greek and Roman Antiquities department consists of more than 100,000 items, dating back from the Greek Bronze Age to the 4th century AD. Items are represented by the elements of Mausoleum at Halikarnassos, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos, a sculpture from the Parthenon in Athens, the collections of Italic and Etruscan antiquities and also some collections of Greek vases, Roman glass, silver, ancient jewellery and bronzes.

The Middle East department holds one of the largest collections of Mesopotamian antiquities outside Iraq, numbering around 330,000 displays. Here are also the collections of Assyrian, Babylonian and Sumerian antiquities as well as collections representing civilizations of the ancient Near East.

The Prints and Drawings department is composed of about 50,000 drawings and more than 2 million prints. The most famous drawings are by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Claude, Rubens and Dürer. Some of the prints include works by William Blake and Thomas Bewick.

The Asia department is represented by more than 75,000 items from the East, South, Central and South-East Asia as well as from the Neolithic period to nowadays.

The Africa, Oceania and the Americas department covers over 350,000 displays among which are a brass head of aYoruba ruler from Nigeria, Asante goldwork from Ghana as well as the Torday collection of Central African sculpture, textiles and weaponry.

The Coins and Medals department includes one of the greatest numismatic collections, composed of nearly a million objects.

The Prehistory and Europe department comprises prehistoric collections from all over Europe, Africa and Asia.

The Conservation, Documentation and Science department was established in 1920. Conservation division is arranged in six areas: ceramics and glass; organic material; stone, wall paintings and mosaics; Eastern pictorial art and Western pictorial art. The science branch is focused on revealing all kind of techniques for identifying the origin of the artefacts.

Address:
British Museum
Great Russell Street
WC1B 3DG
London
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)20 7323 8181