British Museum

Coordinates: 51°31′10″N 0°7′37″W

The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to

human history, art and culture located in the British Museum
Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of
eight million works is the largest in the world.[3] It
documents the story of human culture from its
beginnings to the present.[a] The British Museum was
the first public national museum to cover all fields of
knowledge.[4]

In 2022 the museum received 4,097,253 visitors, an

increase of 209 per cent from 2021. It ranked third in the
list of most-visited art museums in the world.[5]

The museum was established in 1753, largely based on

the collections of the Anglo-Irish physician and scientist Aerial shot of the British Museum
Sir Hans Sloane.[6] It first opened to the public in 1759,
in Montagu House, on the site of the current building.
The museum's expansion over the following 250 years
was largely a result of British colonisation and resulted
in the creation of several branch institutions, or
independent spin-offs, the first being the Natural History
Museum in 1881. The right to ownership of some of its
most well-known acquisitions, notably the Greek Elgin
Marbles and the Egyptian Rosetta Stone, is subject to
long-term disputes and repatriation claims.[7][8] Location within Central London
Established 7 June 1753
In 1973, the British Library Act 1972[9] detached the
library department from the British Museum, but it Location Great Russell Street,
continued to host the now separated British Library in London WC1B 3DG,
the same Reading Room and building as the museum England, United
until 1997. The museum is a non-departmental public Kingdom
body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Collection Approx. 8 million
Media and Sport, and as with all national museums in
size objects[1]
the UK it charges no admission fee, except for loan
exhibitions.[10] Visitors 4,097,253 (2022)[2] (up
209 per cent from
2021)
History
▪ Ranked third
nationally
Sir Hans Sloane
Chair George Osborne
Although today principally a museum of cultural art Director Sir Mark Jones
objects and antiquities, the British Museum was founded Public transit Tottenham Court
as a "universal museum". Its foundations lie in the will of
access Road
the Anglo-Irish physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane
(1660–1753), a London-based doctor and scientist from Goodge Street;
Ulster. During the course of his lifetime, and particularly Holborn; Russell
after he married the widow of a wealthy Jamaican Square
planter,[11] Sloane gathered a large collection of
Website britishmuseum.org (htt
curiosities, and not wishing to see his collection broken
p://britishmuseum.org/)
up after death, he bequeathed it to King George II, for
the nation, for a sum of £20,000.[12] Area 807,000 sq ft
(75,000 m2) in
At that time, Sloane's collection consisted of around
94 galleries
71,000 objects of all kinds[13] including some 40,000
printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural
history specimens including 337 volumes of dried
plants, prints and drawings including those by
Albrecht Dürer and antiquities from Sudan, Egypt,
Greece, Rome, the Ancient Near and Far East and the
Americas.[14]

Foundation (1753)

On 7 June 1753, King George II gave his royal assent to

the Act of Parliament which established the British
Museum.[b] The British Museum Act 1753 also added
two other libraries to the Sloane collection, namely the
Cottonian Library, assembled by Sir Robert Cotton, The Great Court was developed in 2001
dating back to Elizabethan times, and the Harleian and surrounds the original Reading Room.
Library, the collection of the Earls of Oxford. They
were joined in 1757 by the "Old Royal Library", now
the Royal manuscripts, assembled by various British monarchs.
Together these four "foundation collections" included many of the
most treasured books now in the British Library[16] including the
Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving manuscript of Beowulf.
[c]

The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum –

national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the
public and aiming to collect everything. Sloane's collection, while
including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific
interests.[17] The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts
introduced a literary and antiquarian element, and meant that the
British Museum now became both National Museum and library.
[18] Sir Hans Sloane

Cabinet of curiosities (1753–1778)

The body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a

location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The trustees
rejected Buckingham House, which was later converted into the present day Buckingham
Palace, on the grounds of cost and the unsuitability of its location.[19][d]

With the acquisition of Montagu House, the first exhibition galleries and reading room for
scholars opened on 15 January 1759.[20] At this time, the largest parts of collection were the
library, which took up the majority of the rooms on the
ground floor of Montagu House, and the natural history
objects, which took up an entire wing on the second state
storey of the building. In 1763, the trustees of the British
Museum, under the influence of Peter Collinson and
William Watson, employed the former student of Carl
Linnaeus, Daniel Solander, to reclassify the natural history
collection according to the Linnaean system, thereby
making the museum a public centre of learning accessible to
the full range of European natural historians.[21] In 1823, Montagu House, c. 1715
King George IV gave the King's Library assembled by George
III,[22] and Parliament gave the right to a copy of every book
published in the country, thereby ensuring that the
museum's library would expand indefinitely. During the few
years after its foundation the British Museum received
several further gifts, including the Thomason Collection of
Civil War Tracts and David Garrick's library of 1,000
printed plays. The predominance of natural history, books
and manuscripts began to lessen when in 1772 the museum
acquired for £8,410 its first significant antiquities in Sir
William Hamilton's "first" collection of Greek vases.[23] The Rosetta Stone on display in the
British Museum in 1874

Indolence and energy (1778–1800)

From 1778, a display of objects from the South Seas brought

back from the round-the-world voyages of Captain James
Cook and the travels of other explorers fascinated visitors
with a glimpse of previously unknown lands. The bequest of
a collection of books, engraved gems, coins, prints and
drawings by Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode in 1800 did
much to raise the museum's reputation; but Montagu House
became increasingly crowded and decrepit and it was
Entrance ticket to the British apparent that it would be unable to cope with further
Museum, London 3 March 1790 expansion.[24]

The museum's first notable addition towards its collection of

antiquities, since its foundation, was by Sir William Hamilton (1730–1803), British Ambassador
to Naples, who sold his collection of Greek and Roman artefacts to the museum in 1784 together
with a number of other antiquities and natural history specimens. A list of donations to the
museum, dated 31 January 1784, refers to the Hamilton bequest of a "Colossal Foot of an Apollo
in Marble". It was one of two antiquities of Hamilton's collection drawn for him by Francesco
Progenie, a pupil of Pietro Fabris, who also contributed a number of drawings of Mount
Vesuvius sent by Hamilton to the Royal Society in London.

Growth and change (1800–1825)

In the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be
laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. After the
defeat of the French campaign in the Battle of the Nile, in 1801, the British Museum acquired
more Egyptian sculptures and in 1802 King George III presented the Rosetta Stone – key to the
deciphering of hieroglyphs.[25] Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British consul general in
Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in
1818, laid the foundations of the collection of Egyptian
Monumental Sculpture.[26] Many Greek sculptures followed,
notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles
Towneley collection, much of it Roman sculpture, in 1805.
In 1806, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire from 1799 to 1803 removed the large Left to Right: Montagu House,
collection of marble sculptures from the Parthenon, on the Townley Gallery and Sir Robert
Acropolis in Athens and transferred them to the UK. In 1816 Smirke's west wing under
these masterpieces of western art were acquired by the construction, July 1828
British Museum by Act of Parliament and deposited in the
museum thereafter.[27] The collections were supplemented
by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815. The
Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in
1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian
antiquities from the widow of Claudius James Rich.[28]

In 1802 a buildings committee was set up to plan for

expansion of the museum, and further highlighted by the
donation in 1822 of the King's Library, personal library of
King George III's, comprising 65,000 volumes, 19,000 The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
pamphlets, maps, charts and topographical drawings. [29] Room, 1920s
The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to
draw up plans for an eastern extension to the museum
"... for the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it ..."[30] and put forward
plans for today's quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old
Montagu House was demolished and work on the King's Library Gallery began in 1823. The
extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. However, following the founding of the
National Gallery, London in 1824,[e] the proposed Picture Gallery was no longer needed, and
the space on the upper floor was given over to the Natural history collections.[31]

The first Synopsis of the British Museum was published in 1808. This described the contents of
the museum, and the display of objects room by room, and updated editions were published
every few years.

The largest building site in Europe (1825–1850)

As Sir Robert Smirke's grand neo-classical building

gradually arose, the museum became a construction site.
The King's Library, on the ground floor of the East Wing,
was handed over in 1827, and was described as one of the
finest rooms in London. Although it was not fully open to
the general public until 1857, special openings were
arranged during The Great Exhibition of 1851.

In 1840, the museum became involved in its first overseas The Grenville Library, 1875
excavations, Charles Fellows's expedition to Xanthos, in
Asia Minor, whence came remains of the tombs of the rulers
of ancient Lycia, among them the Nereid and Payava monuments. In 1857, Charles Newton was
to discover the 4th-century BC Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, one of the Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World. In the 1840s and 1850s the museum supported excavations in Assyria by A.H.
Layard and others at sites such as Nimrud and Nineveh. Of particular interest to curators was
the eventual discovery of Ashurbanipal's great library of cuneiform tablets, which helped to
make the museum a focus for Assyrian studies.[32]

Sir Thomas Grenville (1755–1846), a trustee of the British Museum from 1830, assembled a
library of 20,240 volumes, which he left to the museum in his will. The books arrived in January
1847 in twenty-one horse-drawn vans. The only vacant space for this large library was a room
originally intended for manuscripts, between the Front Entrance Hall and the Manuscript
Saloon. The books remained here until the British Library moved to St Pancras in 1998.

Collecting from the wider world (1850–1875)

The opening of the forecourt in 1852 marked the completion of Robert Smirke's 1823 plan, but
already adjustments were having to be made to cope with the unforeseen growth of the
collections. Infill galleries were constructed for Assyrian sculptures and Sydney Smirke's Round
Reading Room, with space for a million books, opened in 1857. Because of continued pressure
on space the decision was taken to move natural history to a new building in South Kensington,
which would later become the British Museum of Natural History.

Roughly contemporary with the construction of the new building was the career of a man
sometimes called the "second founder" of the British Museum, the Italian librarian Anthony
Panizzi. Under his supervision, the British Museum Library (now part of the British Library)
quintupled in size and became a well-organised institution worthy of being called a national
library, the largest library in the world after the National Library of Paris.[18] The quadrangle at
the centre of Smirke's design proved to be a waste of valuable space and was filled at Panizzi's
request by a circular Reading Room of cast iron, designed by Smirke's brother, Sydney Smirke.
[33]

Until the mid-19th century, the museum's collections were relatively circumscribed but, in 1851,
with the appointment to the staff of Augustus Wollaston Franks to curate the collections, the
museum began for the first time to collect British and European medieval antiquities,
prehistory, branching out into Asia and diversifying its holdings of ethnography. A real coup for
the museum was the purchase in 1867, over French objections, of the Duke of Blacas's wide-
ranging and valuable collection of antiquities. Overseas excavations continued and John Turtle
Wood discovered the remains of the 4th century BC Temple of Artemis at Ephesos, another
Wonder of the Ancient World.[34]

Scholarship and legacies (1875–1900)

The natural history collections were an integral part of the British Museum until their removal
to the new British Museum of Natural History in 1887, nowadays the Natural History Museum
in South Kensington. With the departure and the completion of the new White Wing (fronting
Montague Street) in 1884, more space was available for antiquities and ethnography and the
library could further expand. This was a time of innovation as electric lighting was introduced in
the Reading Room and exhibition galleries.[35]

The William Burges collection of armoury was bequeathed to the museum in 1881. In 1882, the
museum was involved in the establishment of the independent Egypt Exploration Fund (now
Society) the first British body to carry out research in Egypt. A bequest from Miss Emma Turner
in 1892 financed excavations in Cyprus. In 1897 the death of the great collector and curator, A.
W. Franks, was followed by an immense bequest of 3,300 finger rings, 153 drinking vessels, 512
pieces of continental porcelain, 1,500 netsuke, 850 inro, over 30,000 bookplates and
miscellaneous items of jewellery and plate, among them the Oxus Treasure.[36]
In 1898 Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild bequeathed the Waddesdon Bequest, the glittering
contents from his New Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor. This consisted of almost 300
pieces of objets d'art et de vertu which included exquisite examples of jewellery, plate, enamel,
carvings, glass and maiolica, among them the Holy Thorn Reliquary, probably created in the
1390s in Paris for John, Duke of Berry. The collection was in the tradition of a Schatzkammer
such as those formed by the Renaissance princes of Europe.[37] Baron Ferdinand's will was most
specific, and failure to observe the terms would make it void, the collection should be

placed in a special room to be called the Waddesdon Bequest Room separate and
apart from the other contents of the Museum and thenceforth for ever thereafter,
keep the same in such room or in some other room to be substituted for it.[37]

These terms are still observed, and the collection occupies room 2a.

New century, new building (1900–1925)

By the last years of the 19th century, The British Museum's

collections had increased to the extent that its building was
no longer large enough. In 1895 the trustees purchased the
69 houses surrounding the museum with the intention of
demolishing them and building around the west, north and
east sides of the museum. The first stage was the
construction of the northern wing beginning 1906.

All the while, the collections kept growing. Emil Torday

collected in Central Africa, Aurel Stein in Central Asia, D. G. Opening of The North Wing, King
Hogarth, Leonard Woolley and T. E. Lawrence excavated at Edward VII's Galleries, 1914
Carchemish. Around this time, the American collector and
philanthropist J. Pierpont Morgan donated a substantial
number of objects to the museum,[38] including William
Greenwell's collection of prehistoric artefacts from across
Europe which he had purchased for £10,000 in 1908.
Morgan had also acquired a major part of Sir John Evans's
coin collection, which was later sold to the museum by his
son J. P. Morgan Jr. in 1915. In 1918, because of the threat
of wartime bombing, some objects were evacuated via the
London Post Office Railway to Holborn, the National
Library of Wales (Aberystwyth) and a country house near
Malvern. On the return of antiquities from wartime storage
in 1919 some objects were found to have deteriorated. A
conservation laboratory was set up in May 1920 and became Sir Leonard Woolley holding the
a permanent department in 1931. It is today the oldest in excavated Sumerian Queen's Lyre,
continuous existence.[39] In 1923, the British Museum 1922
welcomed over one million visitors.

Disruption and reconstruction (1925–1950)

New mezzanine floors were constructed and book stacks rebuilt in an attempt to cope with the
flood of books. In 1931, the art dealer Sir Joseph Duveen offered funds to build a gallery for the
Parthenon sculptures. Designed by the American architect John Russell Pope, it was completed
in 1938. The appearance of the exhibition galleries began to change as dark Victorian reds gave
way to modern pastel shades.[f]

Following the retirement of George Francis Hill as Director and Principal Librarian in 1936, he
was succeeded by John Forsdyke.

As tensions with Nazi Germany developed and it appeared that war may be imminent Forsdyke
came to the view that with the likelihood of far worse air-raids than that experienced in World
War I that the museum had to make preparations to remove its most valuable items to secure
locations. Following the Munich crisis Forsdyke ordered 3,300 No-Nail Boxes and stored them
in the basement of Duveen Gallery. At the same time he began identifying and securing suitable
locations. As a result, the museum was able to quickly commence relocating selected items on
24 August 1939, (a mere day after the Home Secretary advised them to do so), to secure
basements, country houses, Aldwych Underground station and the National Library of Wales.
[41] Many items were relocated in early 1942 from their initial dispersal locations to a newly

developed facility at Westwood Quarry in Wiltshire.[41] The evacuation was timely, for in 1940
the Duveen Gallery was severely damaged by bombing.[42] Meanwhile, prior to the war, the
Nazis had sent a researcher to the British Museum for several years with the aim of "compiling
an anti-Semitic history of Anglo-Jewry".[43]

After the war, the museum continued to collect from all countries and all centuries: among the
most spectacular additions were the 2600 BC Mesopotamian treasure from Ur, discovered
during Leonard Woolley's 1922–34 excavations. Gold, silver and garnet grave goods from the
Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo (1939) and late Roman silver tableware from Mildenhall,
Suffolk (1946). The immediate post-war years were taken up with the return of the collections
from protection and the restoration of the museum after the Blitz. Work also began on restoring
the damaged Duveen Gallery.

A new public face (1950–1975)

In 1953, the museum celebrated its bicentenary. Many

changes followed: the first full-time in-house designer and
publications officer were appointed in 1964, the Friends
organisation was set up in 1968, an Education Service
established in 1970 and publishing house in 1973. In 1963, a
new Act of Parliament introduced administrative reforms. It
became easier to lend objects, the constitution of the board
of trustees changed and the Natural History Museum
became fully independent. By 1959 the Coins and Medals
office suite, completely destroyed during the war, was
rebuilt and re-opened, attention turned towards the gallery
work with new tastes in design leading to the remodelling of
Robert Smirke's Classical and Near Eastern galleries.[44] In
1962 the Duveen Gallery was finally restored and the
Parthenon Sculptures were moved back into it, once again at
the heart of the museum.[g]
The re-opened Duveen Gallery,
By the 1970s the museum was again expanding. More 1980
services for the public were introduced; visitor numbers
soared, with the temporary exhibition "Treasures of
Tutankhamun" in 1972, attracting 1,694,117 visitors, the most successful in British history. In
the same year the Act of Parliament establishing the British Library was passed, separating the
collection of manuscripts and printed books from the British Museum. This left the museum
with antiquities; coins, medals and paper money; prints and drawings; and ethnography. A
pressing problem was finding space for additions to the library which now required an extra 11⁄4
miles (2.0 km) of shelving each year. The Government suggested a site at St Pancras for the new
British Library but the books did not leave the museum until 1997.

The Great Court emerges (1975–2000)

The departure of the British Library to a new site at St Pancras, finally achieved in 1998,
provided the space needed for the books. It also created the opportunity to redevelop the vacant
space in Robert Smirke's 19th-century central quadrangle into the Queen Elizabeth II Great
Court – the largest covered square in Europe – which opened in 2000. The ethnography
collections, which had been housed in the short-lived Museum of Mankind at 6 Burlington
Gardens from 1970, were returned to new purpose-built galleries in the museum in 2000.

The museum again readjusted its collecting policies as interest in "modern" objects: prints,
drawings, medals and the decorative arts reawakened. Ethnographical fieldwork was carried out
in places as diverse as New Guinea, Madagascar, Romania, Guatemala and Indonesia and there
were excavations in the Near East, Egypt, Sudan and the UK. The Weston Gallery of Roman
Britain, opened in 1997, displayed a number of recently discovered hoards which demonstrated
the richness of what had been considered an unimportant part of the Roman Empire. The
museum turned increasingly towards private funds for buildings, acquisitions and other
purposes.[46] In 2000, the British Museum was awarded National Heritage Museum of the
Year.[47]

The British Museum today

Today the museum no longer houses

collections of natural history, and the
books and manuscripts it once held now
form part of the independent British
Library. The museum nevertheless
preserves its universality in its collections
of artefacts representing the cultures of
the world, ancient and modern. The
original 1753 collection has grown to over Wide view of the Great Court
13 million objects at the British Museum,
70 million at the Natural History Museum
and 150 million at the British Library.

The Round Reading Room, which was designed by the architect Sydney Smirke, opened in 1857.
For almost 150 years researchers came here to consult the museum's vast library. The Reading
Room closed in 1997 when the national library (the British Library) moved to a new building at
St Pancras. Today it has been transformed into the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Centre.

With the bookstacks in the central courtyard of the museum empty, the demolition for Lord
Foster's glass-roofed Great Court could begin. The Great Court, opened in 2000, while
undoubtedly improving circulation around the museum, was criticised for having a lack of
exhibition space at a time when the museum was in serious financial difficulties and many
galleries were closed to the public. At the same time the African collections that had been
temporarily housed in 6 Burlington Gardens were given a new gallery in the North Wing funded
by the Sainsbury family – with the donation valued at £25 million.[48]
As part of its very large website, the museum has the largest online database of objects in the
collection of any museum in the world, with nearly 4,500,000 individual object entries in
2,000,000 records, many of them illustrated, online at the start of 2023.[49] There is also a
"Highlights" database with longer entries on over 4,000 objects, and several specialised online
research catalogues and online journals (all free to access).[50] In 2013 the museum's website
received 19.5 millions visits, an increase of 47% from the previous year.[51]

In 2013 the museum received a record 6.7 million visitors, an increase of 20% from the previous
year.[51] Popular exhibitions including "Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum" and "Ice
Age Art" are credited with helping fuel the increase in visitors.[52] Plans were announced in
September 2014 to recreate the entire building along with all exhibits in the video game
Minecraft in conjunction with members of the public.[53] A number of films have been shot at
the British Museum.[54]

Governance

Director

The British Museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport through a three-year funding agreement. Its head is the Director of
the British Museum. The British Museum was run from its inception by a 'principal librarian'
(when the book collections were still part of the museum), a role that was renamed 'director and
principal librarian' in 1898, and 'director' in 1973 (on the separation of the British Library).[55]

Trustees

A board of 25 trustees (with the director as their accounting officer for the purposes of reporting
to Government) is responsible for the general management and control of the museum, in
accordance with the British Museum Act 1963 and the Museums and Galleries Act 1992.[56]
Prior to the 1963 Act, it was chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor and
the Speaker of the House of Commons. The board was formed on the museum's inception to
hold its collections in trust for the nation without actually owning them themselves, and now
fulfil a mainly advisory role. Trustee appointments are governed by the regulatory framework
set out in the code of practice on public appointments issued by the Office of the Commissioner
for Public Appointments.[57]

Building
The Greek Revival façade facing Great Russell Street is a
characteristic building of Sir Robert Smirke, with 44
columns in the Ionic order 45 ft (14 m) high, closely based
on those of the temple of Athena Polias at Priene in Asia
Minor. The pediment over the main entrance is decorated by
sculptures by Sir Richard Westmacott depicting The
Progress of Civilisation, consisting of fifteen allegorical
figures, installed in 1852. The museum's main entrance

The construction commenced around the courtyard with the

East Wing (The King's Library) in 1823–1828, followed by
the North Wing in 1833–1838, which originally housed among other galleries a reading room,
now the Wellcome Gallery. Work was also progressing on the northern half of the West Wing
(The Egyptian Sculpture Gallery) 1826–1831, with Montagu House demolished in 1842 to make
room for the final part of the West Wing, completed in 1846, and the South Wing with its great
colonnade, initiated in 1843 and completed in 1847, when the Front Hall and Great Staircase
were opened to the public.[58] The museum is faced with Portland stone, but the perimeter walls
and other parts of the building were built using Haytor granite from Dartmoor in South Devon,
transported via the unique Haytor Granite Tramway.[59]

In 1846 Robert Smirke was replaced as the museum's

architect by his brother Sydney Smirke, whose major
addition was the Round Reading Room 1854–1857; at 140
feet (43 m) in diameter it was then the second widest dome
in the world, the Pantheon in Rome being slightly wider.

The next major addition was the White Wing 1882–1884

added behind the eastern end of the South Front, the
architect being Sir John Taylor.
The Enlightenment Gallery at
museum, which formerly held the In 1895, Parliament gave the museum trustees a loan of
King's Library, 2007 £200,000 to purchase from the Duke of Bedford all 69
houses which backed onto the museum building in the five
surrounding streets – Great Russell Street, Montague Street,
Montague Place, Bedford Square and Bloomsbury Street.[60]
The trustees planned to demolish these houses and to build
around the west, north and east sides of the museum new
galleries that would completely fill the block on which the
museum stands. The architect Sir John James Burnet was
Proposed British Museum
petitioned to put forward ambitious long-term plans to
Extension, 1906
extend the building on all three sides. Most of the houses in
Montague Place were knocked down a few years after the
sale. Of this grand plan only the Edward VII galleries in the
centre of the North Front were ever constructed, these were
built 1906–14 to the design by J.J. Burnet, and opened by
King George V and Queen Mary in 1914. They now house the
museum's collections of Prints and Drawings and Oriental
Antiquities. There was not enough money to put up more
new buildings, and so the houses in the other streets are
nearly all still standing.

The Duveen Gallery, sited to the west of the Egyptian, Greek

External view of the World
& Assyrian sculpture galleries, was designed to house the
Conservation and Exhibition Centre
at the museum, 2015
Elgin Marbles by the American Beaux-Arts architect John
Russell Pope. Although completed in 1938, it was hit by a
bomb in 1940 and remained semi-derelict for 22 years,
before reopening in 1962. Other areas damaged during World War II bombing included: in
September 1940 two unexploded bombs hit the Edward VII galleries, the King's Library
received a direct hit from a high explosive bomb, incendiaries fell on the dome of the Round
Reading Room but did little damage; on the night of 10 to 11 May 1941 several incendiaries fell
on the south-west corner of the museum, destroying the book stack and 150,000 books in the
courtyard and the galleries around the top of the Great Staircase – this damage was not fully
repaired until the early 1960s.[61]

The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court is a covered square at the centre of the British Museum
designed by the engineers Buro Happold and the architects Foster
and Partners.[62] The Great Court opened in December 2000 and is
the largest covered square in Europe. The roof is a glass and steel
construction, built by an Austrian steelwork company,[63] with
1,656 uniquely shaped panes of glass. At the centre of the Great
Court is the Reading Room vacated by the British Library, its
functions now moved to St Pancras.

Today, the British Museum has grown to become one of the largest
museums in the world, covering an area of over 92,000 m2
(990,000 sq. ft).[64][65] In addition to 21,600 m2 (232,000 sq. ft)
[66] of on-site storage space, and 9,400 m2 (101,000 sq. ft)[66] of
external storage space. Altogether, the British Museum showcases
on public display less than 1%[66] of its entire collection, The Reading Room and
approximately 50,000 items.[67] Great Court roof, 2005

There are nearly one hundred galleries open to the public,

representing 2 miles (3.2 km) of exhibition space, although the less popular ones have restricted
opening times. However, the lack of a large temporary exhibition space led to the £135 million
World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre to provide one and to concentrate all the museum's
conservation facilities into one centre. This project was announced in July 2007, with the
architects Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners. It was granted planning permission in December
2009 and was completed in time for the Viking exhibition in March 2014.[68][69] In 2017, the
World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize for excellence
in architecture.[70]

Blythe House in West Kensington is used by the museum for off-site storage of small and
medium-sized artefacts, and Franks House in East London is used for storage and work on the
"Early Prehistory" – Palaeolithic and Mesolithic – and some other collections.[71]

Departments

Department of Egypt and Sudan

The British Museum houses the world's largest[h] and most

comprehensive collection of Egyptian antiquities (with over
100,000[72] pieces) outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. A
collection of immense importance for its range and quality, it
includes objects of all periods from virtually every site of
importance in Egypt and the Sudan. Together, they illustrate
every aspect of the cultures of the Nile Valley (including Nubia),
from the Predynastic Neolithic period (c. 10,000 BC) through
Coptic (Christian) times (12th century AD), and up to the present
Room 61 – The famous false
day, a time-span over 11,000 years.[73]
fresco 'Pond in a Garden'
from the Tomb of Nebamun,
Egyptian antiquities have formed part of the British Museum
c. 1350 BC
collection ever since its foundation in 1753 after receiving 160
Egyptian objects[74] from Sir Hans Sloane. After the defeat of the
French forces under Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile in 1801, the Egyptian antiquities
collected were confiscated by the British army and presented to the British Museum in 1803.
These works, which included the famed Rosetta Stone, were the first important group of large
sculptures to be acquired by the museum. Thereafter, the UK
appointed Henry Salt as consul in Egypt who amassed a huge
collection of antiquities, some of which were assembled and
transported with great ingenuity by the famous Italian explorer
Giovanni Belzoni. Most of the antiquities Salt collected were
purchased by the British Museum and the Musée du Louvre.

By 1866 the collection consisted of some 10,000 objects.

Antiquities from excavations started to come to the museum in
the latter part of the 19th century as a result of the work of the
Egypt Exploration Fund under the efforts of E.A. Wallis Budge.
Over the years more than 11,000 objects came from this source,
including pieces from Amarna, Bubastis and Deir el-Bahari. Other Room 4 – The Rosetta Stone,
organisations and individuals also excavated and donated objects key to the decipherment of
to the British Museum, including Flinders Petrie's Egypt Research Egyptian hieroglyphs, 196 BC
Account and the British School of Archaeology in Egypt, as well as
the University of Oxford Expedition to Kawa and Faras in Sudan.

Active support by the museum for excavations in Egypt continued

to result in important acquisitions throughout the 20th century
until changes in antiquities laws in Egypt led to the suspension of
policies allowing finds to be exported, although divisions still
continue in Sudan. The British Museum conducted its own
excavations in Egypt where it received divisions of finds, including
Asyut (1907), Mostagedda and Matmar (1920s), Ashmunein
(1980s) and sites in Sudan such as Soba, Kawa and the Northern
Dongola Reach (1990s). The size of the Egyptian collections now
stand at over 110,000 objects.[75]

In autumn 2001 the eight million objects forming the museum's

permanent collection were further expanded by the addition of six
Room 4 – Colossal red
million objects from the Wendorf Collection of Egyptian and
granite statue of
Amenhotep III, 1350 BC
Sudanese Prehistory.[76] These were donated by Professor Fred
Wendorf of Southern Methodist University in Texas, and comprise
the entire collection of artefacts and environmental remains from
his excavations at Prehistoric sites in the Sahara Desert between 1963 and 1997. Other fieldwork
collections have recently come from Dietrich and Rosemarie Klemm (University of Munich) and
William Adams (University of Kentucky).

The seven permanent Egyptian galleries at the British Museum, which include its largest
exhibition space (Room 4, for monumental sculpture), can display only 4% of its Egyptian
holdings. The second-floor galleries have a selection of the museum's collection of 140
mummies and coffins, the largest outside Cairo. A high proportion of the collection comes from
tombs or contexts associated with the cult of the dead, and it is these pieces, in particular the
mummies, that remain among the most eagerly sought-after exhibits by visitors to the museum.

Highlights of the collections include:

Predynastic and Early Dynastic period (c. 6000 BC – c. 2690 BC)

▪ Mummy of Ginger and five other individuals from Gebelein (c. 3400 BC)
▪ Flint knife with an ivory handle (known as the Pit-Rivers Knife), Sheikh Hamada, Egypt
(c. 3100 BC)
▪ The Battlefield Palette and Hunters Palette, two cosmetic palettes with complex decorative
 schemes (c. 3100 BC)
▪ Ivory statuette of a king, from the early temple at Abydos, Egypt (c. 3000 BC)
▪ King Den's sandal label from Abydos, mid-1st Dynasty (c. 2985 BC)
▪ Stela of King Peribsen, Abydos (c. 2720–2710 BC)

Old Kingdom (2690–2181 BC)

▪ Artefacts from the tomb of King Khasekhemwy from the 2nd Dynasty (2690 BC)
▪ Granite statue of Ankhwa, the shipbuilder, Saqqara, Egypt, 3rd Dynasty (c. 2650 BC)
▪ Several of the original casing stones from the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven
Wonders of the Ancient World (c. 2570 BC)
▪ Statue of Nenkheftka from Deshasha, 4th Dynasty (2500 BC)
▪ Limestone false door of Ptahshepses, Saqqara (2440 BC)
▪ Abusir Papyri, some of the oldest papyri from ancient Egypt, Abusir (2400 BC)
▪ Wooden tomb statue of Tjeti, 5th to 6th Dynasty (c. 2345–2181 BC)

Middle Kingdom (2134–1690 BC)

▪ Inner and outer coffin of Sebekhetepi, Beni Hasan (c. 2125–1795 BC)
▪ Quartzite statue of Ankhrekhu, 12th Dynasty (1985–1795 BC)
▪ Limestone stela of Heqaib, Abydos, Egypt, 12th Dynasty (1990–1750 BC)
▪ Block statue and stela of Sahathor, 12th Dynasty, reign of Amenemhat II (1922–1878 BC)
▪ Limestone statue and stelae from the offering chapel of Inyotef, Abydos, 12th Dynasty (c.
1920 BC)
▪ Stela of Samontu, Abydos (1910 BC)
▪ Reliefs from the tomb of Djehutyhotep, Deir-el-Bersha (1878–1855 BC)
▪ Three Granite statues of Senwosret III, Deir el-Bahri (1850 BC)
▪ Statue of Rehuankh, Abydos (1850–1830 BC)
▪ Colossal head of Amenemhat III, Bubastis (1800 BC)
▪ Stela of Nebipusenwosret, Abydos (1800 BC)

Second Intermediate Period (1650–1550 BC)

▪ Coffin of King Nubkheperre Intef, Thebes (1570 BC)

▪ The famous Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, an early example of Ancient Egyptian
mathematics, Thebes (1550 BC)

New Kingdom (1549–1069 BC)

▪ Schist head of Pharaoh Hatshepsut or her successor Tuthmosis III (1480 BC)
▪ Statue of Senenmut with Princess Neferure on his lap, Karnak (1470 BC)
▪ Block statue of Sennefer, Western Thebes (1430 BC)
▪ Twenty Sekhmet statues from the Temple of Mut, Thebes (1400 BC)
▪ Fragment of the beard of the Great Sphinx of Giza (14th century BC)
▪ Pair of granite monumental lion statues from Soleb in Sudan, (1370 BC)
▪ Hoard of silver bullion from El-Amarna (1352–1336 BC)
▪ Colossal head from a statue of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)
▪ Colossal limestone bust of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)
 ▪ Amarna Tablets, 99 out of 382 tablets found, second largest collection in the world after the
Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin (203 tablets) (1350 BC)
▪ Stela of Horemheb from his tomb at Saqqara (1330 BC)
▪ London Medical Papyrus with 61 medical and magical treatments (1300 BC)
▪ Papyrus of Ani, one of the finest extant Book of the Dead from antiquity, Thebes (1275 BC)
▪ List of the kings of Egypt from the Temple of Ramesses II (1250 BC)
▪ Statue of Khaemwaset, son of Ramses II, Abydos (1250 BC)
▪ The Great Harris Papyrus, the longest surviving papyrus from antiquity, Thebes (1200 BC)
▪ D'Orbiney Papyrus with the Tale of Two Brothers (1200–1194 BC)
▪ Seated statue of Seti II, Temple of Mut, Karnak (1200–1194 BC)
▪ Face from the sarcophagus of Ramses VI, Valley of the Kings (1140 BC)
▪ Book of the Dead of Nedjmet with painted offering-vignettes and columns of Hieroglyphic
text, Deir el-Bahari (1070 BC)

Third Intermediate Period (1069–664 BC)

▪ Greenfield papyrus, funerary papyrus of Princess Nesitanebetashru, daughter of Pinudjem II

and Neskhons, and priestess of Amen-Ra at Thebes (950–930 BC)
▪ Pair of gold bracelets that belonged to General Nemareth, son of Shoshenq I, Sais (940 BC)
▪ Colossal column capital of Hathor from Bubastis, 22nd Dynasty (922–887 BC)
▪ Statue of the Nile god Hapy, Karnak (c. 900 BC)
▪ Mummy case and coffin of Nesperennub, Thebes (c. 800 BC)
▪ Shabaka Stone from Memphis, Egypt, 25th Dynasty (c. 700 BC)
▪ Coffin of king Menkaure, Giza (700–600 BC)
▪ One of the three statues of Amun in the form of a ram protecting King Taharqo, Kawa (683
BC)
▪ Inner and outer coffins of the priest Hor, Deir el-Bahari, Thebes, 25th Dynasty (c. 680 BC)
▪ Granite statue of the Sphinx of Taharqo (680 BC)

Late Period (664–332 BC)

▪ Saite Sarcophagus of Sasobek, the vizier (prime minister) of the northern part of Egypt in
the reign of Psammetichus I (664–610 BC)
▪ Sarcophagus lid of Sasobek (630 BC)
▪ Bronze figure of Isis and Horus, North Saqqara, Egypt (600 BC)
▪ Sarcophagus of Hapmen, Cairo, 26th Dynasty or later (600–300 BC)
▪ Kneeling statue of Wahibre, from near Lake Mariout (530 BC)
▪ Sarcophagus of Ankhnesneferibre (525 BC)
▪ Torso of Nectanebo I (380–362 BC)
▪ Obelisks and sarcophagus of Pharaoh Nectanebo II (360–343 BC)
▪ Sarcophagus of Nectanebo II, Alexandria (360–343 BC)

Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BC)

▪ The famous Rosetta Stone, trilingual stela that unlocked the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
(196 BC)
▪ Naos or temple shrine of Ptolemy VIII from Philae (150 BC)
 ▪ Giant sculpture of a scarab beetle (32–30 BC)
▪ Fragment of a basalt Egyptian-style statue of Ptolemy I Soter (305–283 BC)
▪ Mummy of Hornedjitef (inner coffin), Thebes (3rd century BC)
▪ Wall from a chapel of Queen Shanakdakhete, Meroë (c. 150 BC)
▪ Shrine of Ptolemy VII, Philae (c. 150 BC)

Roman Period (30 BC – 641 AD)

▪ Schist head of a young man, Alexandria (after 30 BC)

▪ The Meriotic Hamadab Stela from the Kingdom of Kush found near the ancient site of Meroë
in Sudan, 24 BC
▪ Lid of the coffin of Soter and Cleopatra from Qurna, Thebes (early 2nd century AD)
▪ Mummy of a youth with a portrait of the deceased, Hawara (100–200 AD)
▪ Over 30 Fayum mummy portraits from Hawara and other sites in Fayum (40–250 AD)
▪ Bronze lamp and patera from the X-group tombs, Qasr Ibrim (1st–6th centuries AD)
▪ Coptic wall painting of the martyrdom of saints, Wadi Sarga (6th century AD)

Room 64 – Egyptian grave Room 4 – Three black granite

containing a Gebelein statues of the pharaoh Senusret
predynastic mummy, late III, c. 1850 BC
predynastic, 3400 BC

Room 4 – Three black granite Room 4 – Colossal statue of

statues of the goddess Amenhotep III, c. 1370 BC
Sakhmet, c. 1400 BC
Great Court – Colossal quartzite Room 4 - Limestone statue of a
statue of Amenhotep III, c. 1350 husband and wife, 1300–1250
BC BC

Room 63 - Gilded outer coffins Book of the Dead of Hunefer,

from the tomb of Henutmehyt, sheet 5, 19th Dynasty, 1250 BC
Thebes, Egypt, 19th Dynasty,
1250 BC

Room 4 – Ancient Egyptian Room 4 – Green siltstone head

bronze statue of a cat from the of a Pharaoh, 26th–30th
Late Period, c. 664–332 BC Dynasty, 600–340 BC
 Great Court – Black siltstone Room 62 – Detail from the
obelisk of King Nectanebo II of mummy case of Artemidorus the
Egypt, Thirtieth dynasty, Younger, a Greek who had
c. 350 BC settled in Thebes, Egypt, during
Roman times, 100–200 AD

Department of Greece and Rome

The British Museum has one of the world's largest and most
comprehensive collections of antiquities from the Classical
world, with over 100,000 objects.[77] These mostly range in
date from the beginning of the Greek Bronze Age (about
3200 BC) to the establishment of Christianity as the official
religion of the Roman Empire, with the Edict of Milan under
the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine I in 313 AD.
Archaeology was in its infancy during the nineteenth
Room 17 – Reconstruction of the
century and many pioneering individuals began excavating
Nereid Monument, c. 390 BC
sites across the Classical world, chief among them for the
museum were Charles Newton, John Turtle Wood, Robert
Murdoch Smith and Charles Fellows.

The Greek objects originate from across the Ancient Greek

world, from the mainland of Greece and the Aegean Islands,
to neighbouring lands in Asia Minor and Egypt in the
eastern Mediterranean and as far as the western lands of
Magna Graecia that include Sicily and southern Italy. The
Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean cultures are represented,
and the Greek collection includes important sculpture from
the Parthenon in Athens, as well as elements of two of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum at Room 18 – Parthenon marbles from
Halicarnassus and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos.[77] the Acropolis of Athens, 447 BC

Beginning from the early Bronze Age, the department also

houses one of the widest-ranging collections of Italic and Etruscan antiquities outside Italy, as
well as extensive groups of material from Cyprus and non-Greek colonies in Lycia and Caria on
Asia Minor. There is some material from the Roman Republic, but the collection's strength is in
its comprehensive array of objects from across the Roman Empire, with the exception of Britain
(which is the mainstay of the Department of Prehistory and Europe).

The collections of ancient jewellery and bronzes, Greek vases (many from graves in southern
Italy that were once part of Sir William Hamilton's and
Chevalier Durand's collections), Roman glass including the
famous Cameo glass Portland Vase, Roman gold glass (the
second largest collection after the Vatican Museums),
Roman mosaics from Carthage and Utica in North Africa
that were excavated by Nathan Davis, and silver hoards
from Roman Gaul (some of which were bequeathed by the
philanthropist and museum trustee Richard Payne Knight), Room 21 – Mausoleum at
are particularly important. Cypriot antiquities are strong too Halicarnassus, one of the Seven
and have benefited from the purchase of Sir Robert Wonders of the Ancient World,
Hamilton Lang's collection as well as the bequest of Emma mid-4th century BC
Turner in 1892, which funded many excavations on the
island. Roman sculptures (many of which are copies of
Greek originals) are particularly well represented by the Townley collection as well as residual
sculptures from the famous Farnese collection.

Objects from the Department of Greece and Rome are located throughout the museum,
although many of the architectural monuments are to be found on the ground floor, with
connecting galleries from Gallery 5 to Gallery 23. On the upper floor, there are galleries devoted
to smaller material from ancient Italy, Greece, Cyprus and the Roman Empire.

The current collection includes:

Temple of Hephaestus

▪ Marble coffer frame and coffer from the colonnade, (449–415 BC)

Parthenon

▪ The Parthenon Marbles (Elgin Marbles), (447–438 BC)

Propylaea

▪ Capital and column drum, (437–432 BC)

Erechtheion

▪ A surviving column and architectural fittings, (420–415 BC)

▪ One of six remaining Caryatids, (415 BC)

Temple of Athena Nike

▪ Surviving frieze slabs and capital, (427–424 BC)

Choragic Monument of Thrasyllos

▪ Statue of Dionysos, (270 BC)

Tower of the Winds

▪ Marble Corinthian capital, (50 BC)

Temple of Poseidon, Sounion

 ▪ Fluted column base, (444–440 BC)

Temple of Nemesis, Rhamnus

▪ Head from the statue of Nemesis, (430–420 BC)

Temple of Bassae

▪ Twenty-three surviving blocks of the frieze from the interior of the temple, (420–400 BC)

Sanctuary of Apollo at Daphni

▪ Fluted columns, column bases and ionic capitals, (399–301 BC)

Temple of Athena Polias, Priene

▪ Sculptural coffers from the temple ceiling, (350–325 BC)

▪ Ionic capitals, architraves and antae, (350–325 BC)
▪ Marble torso of a charioteer, (320–300 BC)

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

▪ Two colossal free-standing figures identified as Maussollos and his wife Artemisia,
(c. 350 BC)
▪ Part of horse from the chariot group adorning the summit of the Mausoleum, (c. 350 BC)
▪ The Amazonomachy frieze – A long section of relief frieze showing the battle between
Greeks and Amazons, (c. 350 BC)

Temple of Artemis in Ephesus

▪ One of the sculptured column bases, (340–320 BC)

▪ Part of the Ionic frieze situated above the colonnade, (330–300 BC)

Knidos in Asia Minor

▪ Demeter of Knidos, (350 BC)

▪ Lion of Knidos, (350–200 BC)

Xanthos in Asia Minor

▪ Lion Tomb, (550–500 BC)

▪ Harpy Tomb, (480–470 BC)
▪ Nereid Monument, partial reconstruction of a large and elaborate Lykian tomb, (390–380
BC)
▪ Tomb of Merehi, (390–350 BC)
▪ Tomb of Payava, (375–350 BC)
▪ Bilingual Decree of Pixodaros, (340 BC)

Temple of Zeus, Salamis in Cyprus

▪ Marble capital with caryatid figure standing between winged bulls, (300–250 BC)
Wider collection

Prehistoric Greece and Italy (3300 BC – 8th century BC)

▪ Over thirty Cycladic figures from islands in the Aegean Sea, many collected by James
Theodore Bent, Greece, (3300–2000 BC)
▪ A large Gaudo culture askos from Paestum, southern Italy, (2800–2400 BC)
▪ Kythnos Hoard of wood working metal tools from the island of Naxos, Greece, (2700–2200
BC)
▪ Two pottery kernos from Phylakopi in Melos, Greece (2300–2000 BC)
▪ Material from the Palace of Knossos including a huge pottery storage jar, some donated by
Sir Arthur Evans, Crete, Greece, (1900–1100 BC)
▪ The Minoan gold treasure from Aegina, northern Aegean, Greece, (1850–1550 BC)
▪ Artefacts from the Psychro Cave in Crete, including two serpentine libation tables, (1700–
1450 BC)
▪ Bronze Minoan Bull-leaper from Rethymnon, Crete, (1600–1450 BC)
▪ Segments of the columns and architraves from the Treasury of Atreus, Peloponnese,
Greece, (1350–1250 BC)
▪ Ivory game board found at Enkomi, Cyprus, (12th century BC)
▪ Nuragic hoard of bronze artefacts found at Santa Maria in Paulis, Cagliari, Sardinia, (1100–
900 BC)
▪ Elgin Amphora, highly decorated pottery vase attributed to the Dipylon Master, Athens,
Greece, (8th century BC)
▪ Votive offerings from the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta, (8th century BC)

Etruscan (8th century BC – 1st century BC)

▪ Gold jewellery and other rich artefacts from the Castellani and Galeassi Tombs in Palestrina,
central Italy, (8th–6th centuries BC)
▪ Ornate gold fibula with granulated parade of animals from the Bernardini Tomb, Cerveteri,
(675–650 BC)
▪ Various objects including two small terracotta statues from the "Tomb of the five chairs" in
Cerveteri (625–600 BC)
▪ Gold libation bowl from Sant'Angelo Muxaro, Sicily, (600 BC)
▪ Contents of the Isis tomb and François Tomb, Vulci, (570–560 BC)
▪ Painted terracotta plaques (the so-called Boccanera Plaques) from a tomb in Cerveteri,
(560–550 BC)
▪ Decorated silver panels from Castel San Marino, near Perugia (540–520 BC)
▪ Statuette of a bronze votive figure from Pizzidimonte, near Prato, Italy (500–480 BC)
▪ Bronze helmet with inscription commemorating the Battle of Cumae, Olympia, Greece, (480
BC)
▪ Bronze votive statuettes from the Lake of the Idols, Monte Falterona, (420–400 BC)
▪ Part of a symposium set of bronze vessels from the tomb of Larth Metie, Bolsena, Italy,
(400–300 BC)
▪ Exquisite gold ear-ring with female head pendant, one of a pair from Perugia, (300–200 BC)
▪ Oscan Tablet, one of the most important inscriptions in the Oscan language, (300–100 BC)
▪ Hoard of gold jewellery from Sant'Eufemia Lamezia, southern Italy, (340–330 BC)
▪ Latian bronze figure from the Sanctuary of Diana, Lake Nemi, Latium, (200–100 BC)
 ▪ Sarcophagus of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa from Chiusi, (150–140 BC)

Ancient Greece (8th century BC – 4th century AD)

▪ Orientalising gold jewellery from the Camirus cemetery in Rhodes, (700–600 BC)
▪ Foot from the colossal Kouros of Apollo, Delos, (600–500 BC)
▪ Group of life-size archaic statues from the Sacred Way at Didyma, western Turkey, (600–
580 BC)
▪ Bronze statuette of a rider and horse from Armento, southern Italy (550 BC)
▪ Bronze head of an axe from San Sosti, southern Italy, (520 BC)
▪ Statue of a nude standing youth from Marion, Cyprus, (520–510 BC)
▪ Large terracotta sarcophagus and lid with painted scenes from Klazomenai, western Turkey,
(510–480 BC)
▪ Two bronze tablets in the Locrian Greek dialect from Galaxidi, central Greece, (500–475
BC)
▪ Fragments from a large bronze equestrian statue of the Taranto Rider, southern Italy, (480–
460 BC)
▪ Chatsworth Apollo Head, Tamassos, Cyprus (460 BC)
▪ Statue of recumbent bull from the Dipylon Cemetery, Athens (4th century BC)
▪ Hoard of gold jewellery from Avola, Sicily, (370–300 BC)
▪ Dedicatory inscription by Alexander the Great from Priene in Turkey (330 BC)
▪ Head from the colossal statue of the Asclepius of Milos, Greece, (325–300 BC)
▪ Braganza Brooch, Ornamental gold fibula reflecting Celtic and Greek influences (3rd century
BC)
▪ Hoard of silver patera from Èze, southeastern France, (3rd century BC)
▪ Gold tablet from an Orphic sanctuary in southern Italy (3rd–2nd centuries BC)
▪ Marble relief of the Apotheosis of Homer from Bovillae, central Italy, (221–205 BC)
▪ Bronze sculpture of a Greek poet known as the Arundel Head, western Turkey, (2nd–1st
centuries BC)
▪ Remains of the Scylla monument at Bargylia, south west Anatolia, Turkey, (200–150 BC)
▪ Bronze head and hand of the statue of Aphrodite of Satala (1st century BC)
▪ Bronze statuettes from Paramythia (2nd century AD)
▪ Large statue of Europa sitting on the back of a bull from the amphitheatre at Gortyna, Crete,
(100 BC)

Ancient Rome (1st century BC – 4th century AD)

▪ Pair of engraved oval agate plaques depicting Livia as Diana and Octavian as Mercury,
(Rome, 30–25 BC)
▪ Guildford Puteal from Corinth, Greece (30–10 BC)
▪ Bronze head of Augustus from Meroë in Sudan (27–25 BC)
▪ Cameo glass Portland Vase, the most famous glass vessel from ancient Rome, (1–25 AD)
▪ Silver Warren Cup with homoerotic scenes, found near Jerusalem, (5–15 AD)
▪ Gladius of Mainz (or "Sword of Tiberius") and Blacas Cameo, depicting Roman emperors in
triumph (15 AD)
▪ Horse trappings in decorated silver-plated bronze from Xanten, Germany (1st century AD)
▪ Pair of carved fluorite cups known as the Barber Cup and Crawford Cup (100 AD)
 ▪ Athlete statue, "Vaison Diadumenos", from an ancient Roman city in southern France (118–
138 AD)
▪ A hoard of silver votive plaques dedicated to the Roman God Jupiter Dolichenus,
discovered in Heddernheim, near Frankfurt, Germany, (1st–2nd centuries AD)
▪ Discus-thrower (Discobolos)[78] and Bronze Head of Hypnos from Civitella d'Arna, Italy,
(1st–2nd centuries AD)
▪ Part of a large wooden wheel for draining a copper mine in Huelva, southern Spain, (1st–
2nd centuries AD)
▪ Capitals from some of the pilasters of the Pantheon, Rome, (126 AD)
▪ Colossal marble head of Faustina the Elder, wife of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius
from Sardis, western Turkey, (140 AD)
▪ Marble throne from the prohedria of the Panathenaic Stadium, Athens, (140–143 AD)
▪ Hoard of jewellery from a tomb in the vicinity of Miletopolis, Turkey, (175–180 AD)
▪ Inscribed marble base of the Roman Consul Tiberius Claudius Candidus, unearthed in
Tarragona, Spain (195–199 AD)
▪ Jennings Dog, a statue of a Molossian guard dog, central Italy, (2nd century AD)
▪ Segment of a decorated marble balustrade from the Colosseum, Rome, Italy, (2nd century
AD)
▪ Politarch inscription from the Vardar Gate, Thessaloniki, Greece, (2nd century AD)
▪ Two Roman cavalry bronze parade masks from Nola, Italy and Gaziantep, Turkey,[79] (2nd
century AD)
▪ Various silver treasures found at Arcisate, Beaurains, Boscoreale, Bursa, Chaourse,
Caubiac, Chatuzange, Conimbriga, Mâcon and Revel-Tourdan (1st–3rd century AD)
▪ Votive statue of Apollo of Cyrene, Libya (2nd century AD)
▪ Uerdingen Hoard found near Düsseldorf in Germany (2nd–3rd centuries AD)

The collection encompasses architectural, sculptural and epigraphic items from many other
sites across the classical world including Amathus, Atripalda, Aphrodisias, Delos, Iasos, Idalion,
Lindus, Kalymnos, Kerch, Rhamnous, Salamis, Sestos, Sounion, Tomis and Thessaloniki.

Room 12 – A gold earring from Room 18 – Parthenon statuary

the Aegina Treasure, Greece, from the east pediment and
1700-1500 BC Metopes from the south wall,
Athens, Greece, 447-438 BC
Room 19 – Caryatid and Ionian Room 20 – Tomb of Payava,
column from the Erechtheion, Lycia, Turkey, 360 BC
Acropolis of Athens, Greece,
420-415 BC

Room 21 – Fragmentary horse Room 22 - Gold oak wreath with

from the colossal chariot group a bee and two cicadas, western
which topped the podium of the Turkey, c. 350-300 BC
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus,
one of the Seven Wonders of
the Ancient World, Turkey,
c. 350 BC
Room 22 – Column from the Room 22 - Colossal head of
Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, Asclepius wearing a metal
one of the Seven Wonders of crown (now lost), from a cult
the Ancient World, Turkey, early statue on Melos, Greece,
4th century BC 325-300 BC

Room 22 – Bronze head and Room 1 - Farnese Hermes in

hand of an ancient Hellenistic the Enlightenment Gallery, Italy,
statue discovered in Satala, 1st century AD
Turkey, 200-100 BC

Room 69 - Roman gladiator Room 23 - The famous version

helmet from Pompeii, Italy, 1st of the 'Crouching Venus',
century AD Roman, c. 1st century AD
 Room 22 – Roman marble copy Room 22 – Apollo of Cyrene
of the famous 'Spinario (Boy (holding a lyre), Libya,
with Thorn)', Italy, c. 2nd century AD
c. 1st century AD

Department of the Middle East

With a collection numbering some 330,000 works,[80] the

British Museum possesses the world's largest and most
important collection of Mesopotamian antiquities outside
Iraq. A collection of immense importance, the holdings of
Assyrian sculpture, Babylonian and Sumerian antiquities
are among the most comprehensive in the world with entire
suites of rooms panelled in alabaster Assyrian palace reliefs
from Nimrud, Nineveh and Khorsabad.

The collections represent the civilisations of the ancient Room 9 – Assyrian palace reliefs,
Nineveh, 701–681 BC
Near East and its adjacent areas. These cover Mesopotamia,
Persia, the Arabian Peninsula, Anatolia, the Caucasus, parts
of Central Asia, Syria, the Holy Land and Phoenician
settlements in the western Mediterranean from the prehistoric period and include objects from
the 7th century.

The first significant addition of Mesopotamian objects was from the collection of Claudius
James Rich in 1825. The collection was later dramatically enlarged by the excavations of A. H.
Layard at the Assyrian sites of Nimrud and Nineveh between 1845 and 1851. At Nimrud, Layard
discovered the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, as well as three other palaces and various
temples. He later uncovered the Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh with 'no less than seventy-
one halls'. As a result, a large numbers of Lamassus, palace reliefs, stelae, including the Black
Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, were brought to the British Museum.

Layard's work was continued by his assistant, Hormuzd Rassam and in 1852–1854 he went on
to discover the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh with many magnificent reliefs,
including the famous Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal and Lachish reliefs. He also discovered the
Royal Library of Ashurbanipal, a large collection of cuneiform tablets of enormous importance
that today number around 130,000 pieces. W. K. Loftus excavated in Nimrud between 1850 and
1855 and found a remarkable hoard of ivories in the Burnt Palace. Between 1878 and 1882
Rassam greatly improved the museum's holdings with exquisite objects including the Cyrus
Cylinder from Babylon, the bronze gates from Balawat, important objects from Sippar, and a
 fine collection of Urartian bronzes from Toprakkale
including a copper figurine of a winged, human-headed bull.

In the early 20th century excavations were carried out at

Carchemish, Turkey] by D. G. Hogarth and Leonard
Woolley, the latter assisted by T. E. Lawrence. The
Mesopotamian collections were greatly augmented by
excavations in southern Iraq after the First World War.
From Tell al-Ubaid came the bronze furnishings of a
Room 6 – Pair of Human Headed
Sumerian temple, including life-sized lions and a panel
Winged Lions and reliefs from
featuring the lion-headed eagle Indugud found by H. R. Hall
Nimrud with the Balawat Gates,
in 1919–24. Woolley went on to excavate Ur between 1922
c. 860 BC
and 1934, discovering the Royal Cemeteries of the 3rd
millennium BC. Some of the masterpieces include the
Standard of Ur, the Ram in a Thicket, the Royal Game of Ur, and two bull-headed lyres. The
department also has three diorite statues of the ruler Gudea from the ancient state of Lagash
and a series of limestone kudurru or boundary stones from different locations across ancient
Mesopotamia.

Although the collections centre on Mesopotamia, most of

the surrounding areas are well represented. The
Achaemenid collection was enhanced with the addition of
the Oxus Treasure in 1897 and objects excavated by the
German scholar Ernst Herzfeld and the Hungarian-British
explorer Sir Aurel Stein. Reliefs and sculptures from the site
of Persepolis were donated by Sir Gore Ouseley in 1825 and
the 5th Earl of Aberdeen in 1861 and the museum received
part of a pot-hoard of jewellery from Pasargadae as the
division of finds in 1963 and part of the Ziwiye hoard in Room 52 – Ancient Iran with the
1971. A large column base from the One Hundred Column Cyrus Cylinder, 559–530 BC
Hall at Persepolis was acquired in exchange from the
Oriental Institute, Chicago. Moreover, the museum has been
able to acquire one of the greatest assemblages of Achaemenid silverware in the world. The later
Sasanian Empire is also well represented by ornate silver plates and cups, many representing
ruling monarchs hunting lions and deer. Phoenician antiquities come from across the region,
but the Tharros collection from Sardinia, the hoard of about 150 metal bowls and hundreds of
ivories from Nimrud and the many Punic stelae from Carthage and Maghrawa in Tunisia are
outstanding. The number of Phoenician inscriptions from sites across Cyprus is also
considerable, and include artefacts found at the Kition necropolis (with the two Kition Tariffs
having the longest Phoenician inscription discovered on the island), the Idalion temple site and
two bilingual pedestals found at Tamassos. Another often overlooked highlight is Yemeni
antiquities, the finest collection outside that country. Furthermore, the museum has a
representative collection of Dilmun and Parthian material excavated from various burial
mounds at the ancient sites of A'ali and Shakhura (that included a Roman ribbed glass bowl) in
Bahrain.

From the modern state of Syria come almost forty funerary busts from Palmyra and a group of
stone reliefs from the excavations of Max von Oppenheim at Tell Halaf that was purchased in
1920. More material followed from the excavations of Max Mallowan at Chagar Bazar and Tell
Brak in 1935–1938 and from Woolley at Alalakh in the years just before and after the Second
World War. Mallowan returned with his wife Agatha Christie to carry out further digs at Nimrud
in the postwar period which secured many important artefacts for the museum. The collection
of Palestinian material was strengthened by the work of Kathleen Kenyon at Tell es-Sultan
(Jericho) in the 1950s and the acquisition in 1980 of around 17,000 objects found at Lachish by
the Wellcome-Marston expedition of 1932–1938. Archaeological digs are still taking place
where permitted in the Middle East, and, depending on the country, the museum continues to
receive a share of the finds from sites such as Tell es Sa'idiyeh in Jordan.

The museum's collection of Islamic art, including archaeological material, numbers about
40,000 objects,[81] one of the largest of its kind in the world. As such, it contains a broad range
of pottery, paintings, tiles, metalwork, glass, seals, and inscriptions from across the Islamic
world, from Spain in the west to India in the east. It is particularly famous for its collection of
Iznik ceramics (the largest in the world), its large number of mosque lamps including one from
the Dome of the Rock, mediaeval metalwork such as the Vaso Vescovali with its depictions of
the Zodiac, a fine selection of astrolabes, and Mughal paintings and precious artwork including
a large jade terrapin made for the emperor Jahangir. Thousands of objects were excavated after
the war by professional archaeologists at Iranian sites such as Siraf by David Whitehouse and
Alamut Castle by Peter Willey. The collection was augmented in 1983 by the Godman bequest of
Iznik, Hispano-Moresque and early Iranian pottery. Artefacts from the Islamic world are on
display in Gallery 34 of the museum.

A representative selection from the Department of Middle East, including the most important
pieces, are on display in 13 galleries throughout the museum and total some 4,500 objects. A
whole suite of rooms on the ground floor display the sculptured reliefs from the Assyrian
palaces at Nineveh, Nimrud and Khorsabad, while 8 galleries on the upper floor hold smaller
material from ancient sites across the Middle East. The remainder form the study collection
which ranges in size from beads to large sculptures. They include approximately 130,000
cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia.[82]

Highlights of the collections include:

Nimrud:

Assyrian palace reliefs from: Sculptures and inscriptions:

▪ The North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, ▪ Pair of Human Headed Lamassu Lions,
(883–859 BC) (883–859 BC)
▪ Palace of Adad-nirari III, (811–783 BC) ▪ Human Headed Lamassu Bull, sister piece
▪ The Sharrat-Niphi Temple, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, (883–
(c. 9th century BC) 859 BC)
▪ Temple of Ninurta, (c. 9th century BC) ▪ Human Headed Lamassu Lion, sister piece
in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, (883–
▪ South-East Palace ('Burnt Palace'), (8th–
859 BC)
7th century BC)
▪ Colossal Statue of a Lion, (883–859 BC)
▪ Central- Palace of Tiglath-Pileser III, (745–
727 BC) ▪ Foundation tablet of Ashurnasirpal II from
the Temple of Ishtar, (875–865 BC)
▪ South-West Palace of Esarhaddon, (681–
669 BC) ▪ Rassam Obelisk of Ashurnasirpal II, (873–
859 BC)
▪ The Nabu Temple (Ezida),
(c. 7th century BC) ▪ Stela and Statue of King Ashurnasirpal II,
(883–859 BC)
▪ The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III,
(858–824 BC)
▪ Stela of Shamshi-Adad V, (824–811 BC)
▪ Rare Head of Human Headed 'Lamassu',
 recovered from the North-West Palace,
(811–783 BC)
▪ Pair of statues of attendant god dedicated
to Nabu by Adad-Nirari III and
Sammuramat, (810–800 BC)
▪ Bilingual Assyrian lion weights with both
cuneiform and Phoenician inscriptions,
(800–700 BC)
▪ Large sculpture of a male bearded head
from a Lamassu with inscription dedicated
to Esarhaddon, (670 BC)

Nineveh:

Assyrian palace reliefs and sculptures from: Royal Library of Ashurbanipal:

▪ South-West Palace of Sennacherib, (705– ▪ A large collection of cuneiform tablets of

681 BC) enormous importance, approximately
▪ North-Palace of Ashurbanipal, (c. 645 BC), 22,000 inscribed clay tablets, (7th century
including the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal and BC)
Lachish relief ▪ The Flood Tablet, relating part of the
▪ The famous Garden Party Relief, (645 BC) famous Epic of Gilgamesh, (7th century
BC)
▪ Statue of a nude woman, (11th century BC)
▪ Taylor Prism, hexagonal clay foundation
▪ Broken Obelisk of Ashur-bel-kala, the
record, (691 BC)
earliest known Assyrian obelisk, (11th
century BC) ▪ Rassam cylinder with ten faces, that
describes the military campaigns of king
▪ White Obelisk of Ashurnasirpal I, (1050–
Ashurbanipal, (643 BC)
1031 BC)

Other Mesopotamian sites

Khorsabad and Balawat: Ur:

▪ Alabaster bas-reliefs from the Palace of ▪ The Standard of Ur with depictions of war
Sargon II, (710–705 BC) and peace, (2600 BC)
▪ Pair of Human Headed Winged Lamassu ▪ Queen's Lyre and gold drinking cup from
Bulls, (710–705 BC) Queen Puabi's tomb, (2600 BC)
▪ The Balawat Gates of Shalmaneser III, (860 ▪ The Ram in a Thicket, one of pair, the other
BC) is in Philadelphia, (2600–2400 BC)
▪ The Royal Game of Ur, an ancient game
board, (2600–2400 BC)

Wider collection:
▪ Plastered human skull from Jericho, a very early form of portraiture, Palestine, (7000–6000
BC)
▪ Tell Brak Head, one of the oldest portrait busts from the Middle East, north east Syria,
(3500–3300 BC)
▪ Uruk Trough, one of the earliest surviving works of narrative relief sculpture from the Middle
East, southern Iraq, (3300–3000 BC)
▪ Pair of inscribed stone objects known as the Blau Monuments from Uruk, Iraq, (3100–2700
BC)
▪ Hoard of Bronze Age gold jewellery found at the Canaanite site of Tell el-Ajjul in Gaza,
(1750–1550 BC)
▪ Statue of Idrimi from the ancient city of Alalakh, southern Turkey, (1600 BC)
▪ Bronze bowl and ivory cosmetic box in the shape of a fish from Tell es-Sa'idiyeh, Jordan,
(1250–1150 BC)
▪ Group of 16 stone reliefs from the palace of King Kapara at Tell Halaf, northern Syria, (10th
century BC)
▪ Tablet of Shamash, depicting the sun-god Shamash, from Sippar, Iraq, (early 9th century
BC)
▪ Hittite lion head from the monument to King Katuwa at Carchemish, southern Turkey, (9th
century BC)
▪ Two large Assyrian stelae from Kurkh, southern Turkey, (850 BC)
▪ Seated statue of Kidudu or guardian spirit from the Assyrian city of Assur under
Shalmaneser III, Iraq, (835 BC)
▪ Basalt bowl with engraved inscription in Hieroglyphic Luwian found at Babylon, southern
Iraq, (8th century BC)
▪ Babylonian Chronicles, series of tablets recording major events in Babylonian history,
Babylon, Iraq, (8th–3rd centuries BC)
▪ Shebna Inscription from Siloam near Jerusalem, (7th century BC)
▪ Group of 4 bronze shields with inscription of king Rusa III from the temple of Khaldi at the
Urartian fortress of Toprakkale, eastern Turkey, (650 BC)
▪ East India House Inscription from Babylon, Iraq, (604–562 BC)
▪ Lachish Letters, group of ostraka written in alphabetic Hebrew from Lachish, Israel, (586
BC)
▪ Cylinder of Nabonidus, foundation cylinder of King Nabonidus, Sippar, Iraq, (555–540 BC)
▪ The famous Oxus Treasure, the largest ancient Persian hoard of gold artefacts, (550–330
BC)
▪ Jar of Xerxes I, alabaster alabastron with quadrilingual signature of Achaemenid ruler
Xerxes I, found in the ruins of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, Turkey, (486–465 BC)
▪ Idalion Bilingual, bilingual Cypriot-Phoenician inscription, key to the decipherment of
the Cypriot syllabary, Idalion, Cyprus, (388 BC)
▪ Punic-Libyan Inscription from the Mausoleum of Ateban, key to the decipherment of the
Numidian language, Dougga, Tunisia, (146 BC)
▪ Amran Tablets found near Sana'a, Yemen, (1st century BC)
▪ One of the pottery storage jars containing the Dead Sea Scrolls found in a cave near
Qumran, Jordan, (4 BC – 68 AD)
▪ Two limestone ossuaries from caves in Jerusalem, (1st century AD)
▪ Fragment of a carved basalt architrave depicting a lion's head from the Temple of Garni,
Armenia, (1st century AD)
▪ Group of boulders with Safaitic inscriptions from Jordan/Syria, one of which was donated by
 Gertrude Bell, (1st–2nd centuries AD)
▪ Parthian dynasty gold belt-buckle with central repoussé figure of eagle with outstretched
wings from Nihavand, Iran, (1st–3rd centuries AD)
▪ Silver bowl from Khwarezm depicting a four-armed goddess seated on a lion, Kazakhstan,
(658 AD)
▪ One of the rare Hedwig glasses, originating from the Middle East or Norman Sicily, (10th–
12th centuries AD)
▪ Hoard of Seljuq artefacts from Hamadan including gold cup, silver gilt belt fittings and dress
accessories, Iran, (11th–12th centuries)
▪ Islamic brass ewers with engraved decoration and inlaid with silver and copper from Herat,
Afghanistan and Mosul, Iraq (12th–13th centuries AD)

Room 56 – The 'Ram in a Room 56 – The famous

Thicket' figure, one of a pair, 'Standard of Ur', a hollow
from Ur, Southern Iraq, c. 2600 wooden box with scenes of war
BC and peace, from Ur, c. 2600 BC

Room 56 - Sculpture of the god Room 56 - Statue of Kurlil, from

Imdugud, lion-headed eagle the Temple of Ninhursag in Tell
surmounting a lintel made from al-'Ubaid, southern Iraq, c. 2500
sheets of copper, Temple of BC
Ninhursag at Tell al-'Ubaid, Iraq,
c. 2500 BC
Room 56 – The famous Room 57 - Carved ivory object
Babylonian 'Queen of the Night from the Nimrud Ivories,
relief' of the goddess Ishtar, Phoenician, Nimrud, Iraq, 9th–
Iraq, c. 1790 BC 8th century BC

Room 6 – Depiction of the Room 10 – Human Headed

hypocrite, Jehu, King of Israel Winged Bulls from Khorsabad,
on the Black Obelisk of companion pieces in the Musée
Shalmaneser III, Nimrud, c. 827 du Louvre, Iraq, 710–705 BC
BC

Room 55 – Cuneiform Room 55 – Lion Hunt of

Collection, including the Epic of Ashurbanipal (detail), Nineveh,
Gilgamesh, Iraq, c. 669-631 BC Neo-Assyrian, Iraq, c. 645 BC
Room 55 - Panel with striding Room 52 – A chariot from the
lion made from glazed bricks, Oxus Treasure, the most
Neo-Babylonian, important surviving collection of
Nebuchadnezzar II, Southern Achaemenid Persian metalwork,
Iraq, 604–562 BC c. 5th to 4th centuries BC

Great Court - Decorated column Room 53 - Stela said to come

base from Hundred Column from Tamma' cemetery, Yemen,
Hall, Persepolis, 470-450 BC 1st century AD

Room 53 - Alabaster statue of a Room 34 - Cylindrical lidded box

standing female figure, Yemen, with an Arabic inscription
1st-2nd centuries AD recording its manufacture for the
ruler of Mosul, Badr al-Din
Lu'lu', Iraq, c. 1233 – 1259 AD
Department of Prints and Drawings

The Department of Prints and Drawings holds the national collection of Western prints and
drawings. It ranks as one of the largest and best print room collections in existence alongside
the Albertina in Vienna, the Paris collections and the Hermitage. The holdings are easily
accessible to the general public in the Study Room, unlike many such collections.[83] The
department also has its own exhibition gallery in Room 90, where the displays and exhibitions
change several times a year.[84]

Since its foundation in 1808, the prints and drawings collection has grown to international
renown as one of the richest and most representative collections in the world. There are
approximately 50,000 drawings and over two million prints.[84] The collection of drawings
covers the period from the 14th century to the present, and includes many works of the highest
quality by the leading artists of the European schools. The collection of prints covers the
tradition of fine printmaking from its beginnings in the 15th century up to the present, with near
complete holdings of most of the great names before the 19th century. Key benefactors to the
department have been Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode, Richard Payne Knight, John Malcolm,
Campbell Dodgson, César Mange de Hauke and Tomás Harris. Writer and author Louis
Alexander Fagan, who worked in the department 1869–1894 made significant contributions to
the department in form of his Handbook to the Department, as well as various other books
about the museum in general.[85]

There are groups of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, (including his only
surviving full-scale cartoon), Dürer (a collection of 138 drawings is one of the finest in
existence), Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, Claude and Watteau, and largely complete
collections of the works of all the great printmakers including Dürer (99 engravings, 6 etchings
and most of his 346 woodcuts), Rembrandt and Goya. More than 30,000 British drawings and
watercolours include important examples of work by Hogarth, Sandby, Turner, Girtin,
Constable, Cotman, Cox, Gillray, Rowlandson, Towne and Cruikshank, as well as all the great
Victorians. The collection contains the unique set of watercolours by the pioneering colonist
John White, the first British artist in America and first European to paint Native Americans.
There are about a million British prints including more than 20,000 satires and outstanding
collections of works by William Blake and Thomas Bewick.. The great eleven volume Catalogue
of Political and Personal Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the
British Museum compiled between 1870 and 1954 is the definitive reference work for the study
of British Satirical prints. Over 500,000 objects from the department are now on the online
collection database, many with high-quality images.[86] A 2011 donation of £1 million enabled
the museum to acquire a complete set of Pablo Picasso's Vollard Suite.[87]
Rogier van der Weyden - Hieronymus Bosch - A comical
Portrait of a Young Woman, c. barber scene, c. 1477-1516
1440

Sandro Botticelli - Allegory of Leonardo da Vinci – The Virgin

Abundance, 1480-1485 and Child with Saint Anne and
the Infant Saint John the Baptist
(prep for 'The Burlington House
Cartoon'), c. 1499–1500

Michelangelo – Studies of a Raphael – Study of Heads,

reclining male nude: Adam in Mother and Child, c. 1509-1511
the fresco The Creation of Man
on the vault of the Sistine
Chapel, c. 1511
Titian – Drowning of the Albrecht Dürer - Drawing of a
Pharaoh's Host in the Red Sea, walrus, 1521
1515–1517

Hans Holbein the Younger - Joris Hoefnagel and Jacob

Portrait of Anne Boleyn, 1536 Hoefnagel - Allegory on Life and
Death, circa 1598

Peter Paul Rubens - Study for Francisco de Zurbarán - Head

the figure of Christ on the Cross, of a monk, 1625–1664
1610
Claude Lorrain - Drawing of Rembrandt – The Lamentation
mules, including one full-length, at the Foot of the Cross, 1634–
1630-1640 35

Thomas Gainsborough - J. M. W. Turner - Watercolour of

Drawing of a woman with a Newport Castle, 1796
rose, 1763-1765

Isaac Cruikshank - 'The happy John Constable - London from

effects of that grand system of Hampstead Heath in a Storm,
shutting ports against the (watercolour), 1831
English!!', 1808
 James McNeill Whistler - View Vincent van Gogh - Man
of the Battersea side of Chelsea Digging in the Orchard (print),
Reach, London, (lithograph), 1883
1878

Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory

The Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory is

responsible for collections that cover a vast expanse of
time and geography. It includes some of the earliest
objects made by humans in east Africa over 2 million
years ago, as well as Prehistoric and neolithic objects
from other parts of the world; and the art and
archaeology of Europe from the earliest times to the
present day. Archeological excavation of prehistoric
material took off and expanded considerably in the
twentieth century and the department now has literally Gallery 50 – View down the Roman
Britain gallery
millions of objects from the Paleolithic and Mesolithic
periods throughout the world, as well as from the
Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age in Europe. Stone
Age material from Africa has been donated by famous
archaeologists such as Louis and Mary Leakey, and
Gertrude Caton–Thompson. Paleolithic objects from the
Sturge, Christy and Lartet collections include some of
the earliest works of art from Europe. Many Bronze Age
objects from across Europe were added during the
nineteenth century, often from large collections built up
by excavators and scholars such as Greenwell in Britain,
Tobin and Cooke in Ireland, Lukis and de la Grancière
in Brittany, Worsaae in Denmark, Siret at El Argar in
Spain, and Klemm and Edelmann in Germany. A Gallery 2a – Display case of
Renaissance metalware from the
representative selection of Iron Age artefacts from
Waddesdon Bequest
Hallstatt were acquired as a result of the Evans/
Lubbock excavations and from Giubiasco in Ticino
through the Swiss National Museum.

In addition, the British Museum's collections covering the period AD 300 to 1100 are among the
largest and most comprehensive in the world, extending from Spain to the Black Sea and from
North Africa to Scandinavia; a representative selection of these has recently been redisplayed in
a newly refurbished gallery. Important collections include Latvian, Norwegian, Gotlandic and
Merovingian material from Johann Karl Bähr, Alfred Heneage Cocks, Sir James Curle and
Philippe Delamain respectively. However, the undoubted highlight from the early mediaeval
period is the magnificent items from the Sutton Hoo royal grave, generously donated to the
nation by the landowner Edith Pretty. The late mediaeval collection includes a large number of
seal-dies from across Europe, the most famous of which include those from the Town of
Boppard in Germany, Isabella of Hainault from her tomb in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris,
Inchaffray Abbey in Scotland and Robert Fitzwalter, one of the Barons who led the revolt
against King John in England. There is also a large collection of medieval signet rings,
prominent among them is the gold signet ring belonging to Jean III de Grailly who fought in the
Hundred Years' War, as well as those of Mary, Queen of Scots and Richard I of England. Other
groups of artefacts represented in the department include the national collection of (c.100) icon
paintings, most of which originate from the Byzantine Empire and Russia, and over 40
mediaeval astrolabes from across Europe and the Middle East. The department also includes
the national collection of horology with one of the most wide-ranging assemblage of clocks,
watches and other timepieces in Europe, with masterpieces from every period in the
development of time-keeping. Choice horological pieces came from the Morgan and Ilbert
collections. The department is also responsible for the curation of Romano-British objects – the
museum has by far the most extensive such collection in Britain and one of the most
representative regional collections in Europe outside Italy. It is particularly famous for the large
number of late Roman silver treasures, many of which were found in East Anglia, the most
important of which is the Mildenhall Treasure. The museum purchased many Roman-British
objects from the antiquarian Charles Roach Smith in 1856. These quickly formed the nucleus of
the collection. The department also includes ethnographic material from across Europe
including a collection of Bulgarian costumes and shadow puppets from Greece and Turkey. A
particular highlight are the three Sámi drums from northern Sweden of which only about 70 are
extant.

Objects from the Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory are mostly found on the upper
floor of the museum, with a suite of galleries numbered from 38 to 51. Most of the collection is
stored in its archive facilities, where it is available for research and study.

Highlights of the collections include:

Stone Age (c. 3.4 million years BC – c. 2000 BC)

▪ Palaeolithic material from across Africa, particularly Olduvai, Kalambo Falls, Olorgesailie
and Cape Flats, (1.8 million BC onwards)
▪ One of the 11 leaf-shaped points found near Volgu, Saône-et-Loire, France and estimated to
be 16,000 years old[88]
▪ Ice Age art from France including the Wolverine pendant of Les Eyzies, Montastruc
decorated stone and Baton fragment, (c. 12–11,000 BC)
▪ Ice Age art from Britain including the decorated jaw from Kendrick and Robin Hood Cave
Horse, (11,500–10,000 BC)
▪ Rare mesolithic artefacts from the site of Star Carr in Yorkshire, northern England, (8770–
8460 BC)
▪ Terracotta figurine from Vinča, Serbia, (5200–4900 BC)
▪ Callaïs bead jewellery from Lannec-er-Ro'h, intact schist bracelet from Le Lizo, Carnac and
triangular pendant from Mané-er-Hroëk, Morbihan, Brittany, western France, (5000–4300
BC)
▪ Polished jade axe produced in the Italian Alps and found in Canterbury, Kent, southeast
England, (4500–4000 BC)
 ▪ Section of the Sweet Track, an ancient timber causeway from the Somerset Levels,
England, (3807/6 BC)
▪ Small collection of Neolithic finds including a necklace of flat bone beads from Skara Brae,
Orkneys, northern Scotland, (3180–2500 BC)
▪ Representative sample of artefacts (sherds, vessels, etc.) from the megalithic site of
Tarxien, Malta, (3150–2500 BC)
▪ A number of carved stone balls from Scotland, Ireland and northern England, (3200–2500
BC)
▪ The three Folkton Drums, made from chalk and found in Yorkshire, northern England,
(2600–2100 BC)

Bronze Age (c. 3300 BC – c. 600 BC)

▪ Jet beaded necklace from Melfort in Argyll, Scotland, (c. 3000 BC)
▪ Gold lunula from Blessington, Ireland, one of twelve from Ireland, Wales and Cornwall,
(2400–2000 BC)
▪ Early Bronze Age hoards from Barnack, Driffield, Sewell and Snowshill in England, Arraiolos
and Vendas Novas in Iberia and Auvernier, Biecz and Neunheilingen in central Europe
(2280–1500 BC)
▪ Mold cape, unique cape made of gold sheet from Mold, Wales (1900–1600 BC)
▪ Contents of the Rillaton Barrow including a gold cup, and the related Ringlemere Cup,
England, (1700–1500 BC)
▪ Bronze Age hoards from Forró, Paks-Dunaföldvár, Szőny and Zsujta in Hungary, (1600–
1000 BC)
▪ Large ceremonial swords or dirks from Oxborough and Beaune, western Europe, (1450–
1300 BC)
▪ Eight bronze shields including those from Moel Hebog and Rhyd-y-gors, Wales and Athenry,
County Galway, Ireland, (12th–10th centuries BC)
▪ Gold hoards from Morvah and Towednack in Cornwall, Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire
and Mooghaun in Ireland, (1150–750 BC)
▪ Gold bowl with intricate repoussé decoration from Leer, Lower Saxony, northern Germany,
(1100–800 BC)
▪ Dunaverney flesh-hook found near Ballymoney, Northern Ireland and part of the Dowris
Hoard from County Offaly, Ireland, (1050–900 BC & 900–600 BC)
▪ Late Bronze Age gold hoards from Abia de la Obispalía and Mérida, Spain and an intricate
gold collar from Sintra, Portugal, (10th–8th centuries BC)
▪ Shropshire bulla, gold pendant decorated with intricately carved geometric designs, (1000–
750 BC)
▪ Part of a copper alloy lur from Årslev on the island of Funen, Denmark, one of only about 40
extant and the Dunmanway Horn from County Cork, Ireland (900–750 BC)
▪ Gold bowl with embossed ornament and fluted wire handle from Angyalföld, Budapest,
Hungary, (800–600 BC)

Iron Age (c. 600 BC – c. 1st century AD)

▪ Basse Yutz Flagons, a pair of bronze drinking vessels from Moselle, eastern France, (5th
century BC)
▪ Morel collection of La Tène material from eastern France, including the Somme-Bionne
chariot burial and the Prunay Vase, (450-300BC)
 ▪ Important finds from the River Thames including the Battersea, Chertsey and Wandsworth
shields and Waterloo Helmet, as well as the Witham Shield from Lincolnshire, eastern
England, (350–50 BC)
▪ Bronze scabbard with La Tène engraved decoration, found at Lisnacrogher bog, County
Antrim, Northern Ireland, (300–200 BC)
▪ Pair of gold collars called the Orense Torcs from northwest Spain, (300–150 BC)
▪ Arras culture items from chariot burials in the Lady's Barrow near Market Weighton and
Wetwang Slack, Yorkshire, (300 BC – 100 BC)
▪ Other gold neck collars including the Ipswich Hoard and the Sedgeford Torc, England, (200–
50 BC)
▪ Winchester Hoard of gold jewellery from southern England and the Great Torc from
Snettisham in Norfolk, East Anglia, (100 BC)
▪ Eight out of about thirty extant intact Celtic bronze mirrors with La Tène decoration including
those from Aston, Chettle, Desborough, Holcombe and St Keverne in England, (100 BC –
100 AD)
▪ Cordoba and Arcillera Treasures, two silver Celtic hoards from Spain, (100–20 BC)
▪ Grave find of ornately decorated bronze bucket with human shaped handles, a pan, jug,
three brooches and at least four pottery vessels from Aylesford, Kent, (75 BC – 25 BC)
▪ Lindow Man found by accident in a peat bog in Cheshire, England, (1st century AD)
▪ Stanwick Hoard of horse and chariot fittings and the Meyrick Helmet, northern England, (1st
century AD)
▪ La Tène silver hinged brooch from Székesfehérvár, Hungary, (1–100 AD)
▪ Lochar Moss Torc and two pairs of massive bronze armlets from Muthill and Strathdon,
Scotland, (50–200 AD)

Romano-British (43 AD – 410 AD)

▪ Tombstone of Roman procurator Gaius Julius Alpinus Classicianus from London, (1st
century)
▪ Ribbed glass bowl found in a grave at Radnage, Buckinghamshire, (1st century)
▪ Large milestone marker with inscription from the reign of the emperor Hadrian from
Llanfairfechan, Gwynedd in North Wales, (120–121 AD)
▪ Ribchester, Guisborough and Witcham helmets once worn by Roman cavalry in Britain,
(1st–2nd centuries)
▪ Elaborate gold bracelets and ring found near Rhayader, central Wales, (1st–2nd centuries)
▪ Hoard of gold jewellery found at Dolaucothi mine in Carmarthenshire, Wales, (1st–2nd
centuries)
▪ Bronze heads of the Roman emperors Hadrian and Claudius, found in London and Suffolk,
(1st–2nd centuries)
▪ Vindolanda Tablets, important historical documents found near Hadrian's Wall in
Northumberland, (1st–2nd centuries)
▪ Head of Mercury from Roman-Celtic Temple at Uley, Gloucestershire and limestone head
from Towcester, Northamptonshire (2nd–4th centuries)
▪ Wall-paintings and sculptures from the Roman Villa at Lullingstone, Kent, south east
England, 1st–4th centuries)
▪ Capheaton and Backworth treasures, remnants of two important hoards from northern
England, (2nd–3rd centuries)
▪ Stony Stratford Hoard of copper headdresses, fibulae and silver votive plaques, central
England, (3rd century)
 ▪ Square silver dish from Mileham in Norfolk, (4th century)
▪ Gold jewellery deposited at the site of Newgrange, Ireland, (4th century)
▪ Thetford Hoard, late Roman jewellery from eastern England, (4th century)

Early Mediaeval (c. 4th century AD – c. 1000 AD)

▪ One of five Largitio silver dishes of the emperor Licinius found at Niš, Serbia and a
hexagonal gold coin-set pendant of Constantine the Great, (Early 4th century AD)
▪ Two wooden ship figureheads dredged from the River Scheldt at Moerzeke and Appels,
Belgium, (4th–6th centuries)
▪ Part of the Asyut, Domagnano, Artres, Sutri, Bergamo and Belluno Treasures, (4th–7th
centuries)
▪ Lycurgus Cup, a unique figurative glass cage cup, and the Byzantine Archangel ivory panel,
(4th–6th centuries)
▪ Three large Ogham stones from the Roofs More Rath, County Cork, Ireland, (5th–7th
centuries)
▪ The Sutton Hoo treasure, Taplow burial and Crundale grave objects with some of the
greatest finds from the early Middle Ages in Europe, England, (6th–7th centuries)
▪ One of the Burghead Bulls, Pictish stone relief from northeast Scotland, (7th–8th centuries)
▪ Three Viking hoards from Norway known as the Lilleberge Viking Burial, Tromsø Burial and
Villa Farm barrow burial in Vestnes and the Ardvouray, Ballaquayle, Cuerdale,
Goldsborough and Vale of York hoards from Britain, (7th–10th centuries)
▪ Irish reliquaries such as the Kells Crozier, Bell Shrine of St. Cuileáin and St Conall Cael's
Shrine from Inishkeel, (7th–11th centuries)
▪ Early Anglo Saxon Franks Casket, a unique ivory container from northern England, (8th
century)
▪ T-shaped Carolingian antler container with carved geometric interlace and zigzag
decoration, found near Grüneck Castle, Ilanz, Switzerland, (8th–9th centuries)
▪ A number of luxurious penannular brooches such as the Londesborough Brooch,
Breadalbane Brooch and those from the Penrith Hoard, British Isles, (8th–9th centuries)
▪ Three of the twenty extant Carolingian crystal intaglios including the Lothair Crystal, the
Metz engraved gem with crucifixion and Saint-Denis Crystal, central Europe, (9th century)
▪ Anglo-Saxon Fuller and Strickland Brooches with their complex, niello-inlaid design,
England, (9th century)
▪ Seax of Beagnoth, iron sword with long Anglo-Saxon Runic inscription, London, England,
(10th century)

Mediaeval (c. 1000 AD – c. 1500 AD)

▪ A number of mediaeval ivory panels including the Borradaile, Wernher and John Grandisson
Triptychs, (10th–14th centuries)
▪ Several elephant ivory horns including the Borradaile Horn, Clephane Horn and Savernake
Horn, (11th–12th centuries)
▪ The famous Lewis chessmen found in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, (12th century)
▪ Reliquary of St. Eustace from the treasury of Basel Munster, Switzerland and fragments of a
rare Romanesque crucifix from South Cerney, England, (12th century)
▪ Armenian stone-cross or Khachkar from the Noratus cemetery in Armenia, (1225 AD)
▪ Items from the tomb of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor at Palermo Cathedral, Sicily,
including his mitre, silk pall and shoe, (late 12th century)
 ▪ The unique Warwick Castle Citole, an early form of guitar, central England, (1280–1330)
▪ Set of 10 wooden door panels engraved with Christian scenes from the Hanging Church in
Old Cairo, Egypt, (1300)
▪ Asante Jug, mysteriously found at the Asante Court in the late 19th century, England,
(1390–1400)
▪ Holy Thorn Reliquary bequeathed by Ferdinand de Rothschild as part of the Waddesdon
Bequest, Paris, France, (14th century)
▪ Dunstable Swan Jewel, a gold and enamel brooch in the form of a swan, England, (14th
century)
▪ A silver astrolabe quadrant from Canterbury, southeastern England, (14th century)
▪ Chalcis treasure of jewellery, dress accessories and silver plate from the island of Euboea,
Greece, (14th–15th centuries)
▪ Magnificent cups made from precious metal such as the Royal Gold Cup and the Lacock
Cup, western Europe, (14th–15th centuries)
▪ Complete church altar set from Medina de Pomar near Burgos, Spain (1455 AD)

Renaissance to Modern (c. 1500 AD – present)

▪ Two luxurious silver brooches set with precious stones from Glen Lyon and Lochbuie,
Scotland (early 16th century)
▪ Intricately decorated parade shield made by Giorgio Ghisi from Mantua, Italy, (1554 AD)
▪ The Armada Service, 26 silver dishes found in Devon, south west England, (late 16th to
early 17th centuries)
▪ Early Renaissance Lyte Jewel, presented to Thomas Lyte of Lytes Cary, Somerset by King
James I of England, (1610)
▪ Huguenot silver from the Peter Wilding bequest, England, (18th century)
▪ Pair of so-called Cleopatra Vases from the Chelsea porcelain factory, London, England,
(1763)
▪ Jaspar ware vase known as the Pegasus Vase made by Josiah Wedgwood, England,
(1786)
▪ Two of Charles Darwin's chronometers used on the voyage of HMS Beagle, (1795–1805)
▪ The Hull Grundy Gift of jewellery, Europe and North America, (19th century)
▪ Oak clock with mother-of-pearl engraving designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, (1919)
▪ Silver tea-infuser designed by Marianne Brandt from the Bauhaus art school, Germany,
(1924)
▪ The Rosetta Vase, earthenware pottery vase designed by the contemporary British artist
Grayson Perry, (2011)

The many hoards of treasure include those of Esquiline, Carthage, First Cyprus, Hockwold,
Hoxne, Lampsacus, Mildenhall, Vale of York and Water Newton, (4th–10th centuries AD)
Room 2 – Handaxe, Lower Room 3 – Swimming Reindeer
Palaeolithic, Olduvai Gorge, carving, France, c. 13,000 years
Tanzania, c. 1.2 million years BC[89]
BC

Room 2 – Ain Sakhri lovers, Room 51 – Mold gold cape,

from the cave of Ain Sakhri, North Wales, Bronze Age, c.
near Bethlehem, c. 9000 BC[90] 1900–1600 BC

Room 50 – Wandsworth Shield, Room 50 – Gold torc found in

Iron Age shield boss in La Tène Needwood Forest, central
style, England, 2nd century BC England, 75 BC
Room 49 - Bronze head of a Room 49 – Romano-British
Roman emperor Claudius, from crown and diadem found in
Rendham in Suffolk, eastern Hockwold cum Wilton, England
England, 1st century AD 1st century AD

Room 49 – Hinton St Mary Room 49 – Corbridge Lanx,

Mosaic with face of Christ in the silver tray depicting a shrine to
centre, from Dorset, southern Apollo, northern England, 4th
England, 4th century AD century AD

Room 41 – Silver objects from Room 41 – Sutton Hoo helmet,

the Roman Coleraine Hoard, Anglo-Saxon, England, early 7th
Northern Ireland, 4th-5th century AD
centuries AD
Room 40 – Ivory statue of Virgin Room 40 – Chaucer Astrolabe,
and Child, who is crushing a the oldest dated in Europe,
dragon under her left foot from 1326 AD
Paris, France, 1310-1330 AD

Room 40 – Royal Gold Cup or Room 2a – Holy Thorn

Saint Agnes Cup, made in Reliquary, made in Paris, c.
Paris, France, 1370–80 AD 1390s AD

Room 38 – Mechanical Galleon Room 38 – Carillon clock with

clock, Augsburg, Germany, automata by Isaac Habrecht,
around 1585 AD Switzerland, 1589 AD
 Room 39 – Ornate clock made
by Thomas Tompion, England,
1690 AD

Department of Asia

The scope of the Department of Asia is extremely broad; its

collections of over 75,000 objects cover the material culture
of the whole Asian continent and from the Neolithic up to
the present day. Until recently, this department
concentrated on collecting Oriental antiquities from urban
or semi-urban societies across the Asian continent. Many of
those objects were collected by colonial officers and
explorers in former parts of the British Empire, especially
the Indian subcontinent. Examples include the collections
Room 33a – Amaravati Sculptures,
made by individuals such as James Wilkinson Breeks, Sir
southern India, 1st century BC and
Alexander Cunningham, Sir Harold Deane, Sir Walter Elliot,
3rd century AD
James Prinsep, Charles Masson, Sir John Marshall and
Charles Stuart. A large number of Chinese antiquities were
purchased from the Anglo-Greek banker George
Eumorfopoulos in the 1930s. The large collection of some
1800 Japanese prints and paintings owned by Arthur
Morrison was acquired in the early twentieth century. In the
second half of the twentieth century, the museum greatly
benefited from the bequest of the philanthropist PT Brooke
Sewell, which allowed the department to purchase many
objects and fill in gaps in the collection.[91][92][93] Room 95 – The Percival David
collection of Chinese ceramics
In 2004, the ethnographic collections from Asia were
transferred to the department. These reflect the diverse
environment of the largest continent in the world and range from India to China, the Middle
East to Japan. Much of the ethnographic material comes from objects originally owned by tribal
cultures and hunter-gatherers, many of whose way of life has disappeared in the last century.
Particularly valuable collections are from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (much assembled
by the British naval officer Maurice Portman), Sri Lanka (especially through the colonial
administrator Hugh Nevill), Northern Thailand, south-west China, the Ainu of Hokaidu in
Japan (chief among them the collection of the Scottish zoologist John Anderson), Siberia (with
artefacts collected by the explorer Kate Marsden and Bassett Digby and is notable for its Sakha
pieces, especially the ivory model of a summer festival at Yakutsk) and the islands of South-East
Asia, especially Borneo. The latter benefited from the purchase in 1905 of the Sarawak
collection put together by Dr Charles Hose, as well as from other colonial officers such as
Edward A Jeffreys. In addition, a unique and valuable group of objects from Java, including
shadow puppets and a gamelan musical set, was assembled by Sir Stamford Raffles.

The principal gallery devoted to Asian art in the museum is Gallery 33 with its comprehensive
display of Chinese, Indian subcontinent and South-east Asian objects. An adjacent gallery
showcases the Amaravati sculptures and monuments. Other galleries on the upper floors are
devoted to its Japanese, Korean, painting and calligraphy, and Chinese ceramics collections.

Highlights of the collections include:[94]

▪ The most comprehensive collection of sculpture from the Indian subcontinent in the world,
including the celebrated Buddhist limestone reliefs from Amaravati excavated by Sir Walter
Elliot[95]
▪ An outstanding collection of Chinese antiquities, paintings, and porcelain, lacquer, bronze,
jade, and other applied arts
▪ The Frau Olga-Julia Wegener Collection of 147 Chinese paintings from the Tang to the Qing
dynasties.
▪ The most comprehensive collection of Japanese pre-20th century art in the Western world,
many of which originally belonged to the surgeon William Anderson and diplomat Ernest
Mason Satow

East Asia

▪ A large collection of Chinese ritual bronzes, including a wine vessel in the shape of two
rams supporting a jar, (1500–200 BC)
▪ Jade bi or disc with inscription from the Qianlong Emperor, (1500–1050 BC)
▪ Group of oracle bones that were used for divination from the Shang dynasty, China, (1200–
1050 BC)
▪ Intricately designed gold dagger handle from Eastern Zhou period, China, (6th–5th centuries
BC)
▪ Huixian Bronze Hu, an identical pair of bronze vessels from the Eastern Zhou period, China,
(5th century BC)
▪ Japanese antiquities from the Kofun period excavated by the pioneering archaeologist
William Gowland, (3rd–6th centuries AD)
▪ Three ornate bronze Dōtaku or bells from the Yayoi period, Japan, (200 BC – 200 AD)
▪ Gilded and inscribed Han dynasty wine-cup made from lacquer and found in Pyongyang,
Korea (4 AD)
▪ Gandharan architectural wood carvings, furniture and dress accessories from Loulan,
Xinjiang, (4th century AD)
▪ The famous Admonitions Scroll by Chinese artist Gu Kaizhi, (344–406 AD)
▪ The colossal Amitābha Buddha from Hancui, China, (585 AD)
▪ A set of ceramic Tang dynasty tomb figures of Liu Tingxun, (c. 728 AD)
▪ Silk Princess painting from Dandan-oilik Buddhist sanctuary in Khotan, Xinjiang, China,
(7th–8th century AD)
▪ Seated Luohan from Yixian, one from a set of eight surviving statues, China, (907–1125 AD)
▪ Hoard of Tang dynasty silverware from Beihuangshan, Shaanxi, China, (9th–10th centuries
AD)
▪ Seventeen examples of extremely rare Ru ware, the largest collection in the West, (1100
 AD)
▪ A fine assemblage of Buddhist scroll paintings from Dunhuang, western China, collected by
the British-Hungarian explorer Aurel Stein, (5th–11th centuries AD)
▪ Pericival David collection of Chinese ceramics, (10th–18th centuries AD)
▪ Ivory stand in the form of a seated lion, Chos-'khor-yan-rtse monastery in Tibet, (13th
century AD)
▪ Copy of a hanging scroll painting of Minamoto no Yoritomo, first Shogun of Japan, (14th
century AD)
▪ Handscroll silk painting called 'Fascination of Nature' by Xie Chufang depicting insects and
plants, China, (1321 AD)
▪ Ornate Sino-Tibetan figure of Buddha Sakyamuni made of gilded bronze, China, (1403–
1424 AD)
▪ Large Cloisonné jar with dragon made for the Ming dynasty Imperial Court, paired with
another in the Rietberg Museum, Zürich, Beijing, China, (1426–35 AD)
▪ Pair of ceramic Kakiemon elephants from Japan, (17th century AD)
▪ Moon jar from the Joseon Dynasty collected by the potter Bernard Leach, Korea, (18th
century AD)
▪ Japanese prints including The Great Wave off Kanagawa, (1829–32 AD)
▪ Illustrations for the Great Picture Book of Everything, rare album of drawings by the
celebrated Japanese artist Hokusai, (1820–1840 AD)

South Asia

▪ Excavated objects from the Indus Valley sites of Mohenjo-daro, and Harappa, Ancient India
(now in Pakistan), (2500–2000 BC)
▪ Hoard of Copper Hoard Culture celts, plaques and disc from Gungeria, Madhya Pradesh,
India, (2000–1000 BC)
▪ Assembly of prehistoric artefacts from the Nilgiri Hills in southern India, (10th century BC –
2nd century AD)
▪ Hoard of Iron Age metal weapons excavated at the Wurreegaon barrow near Kamptee in
Maharastra, India, (7th – 1st centuries BC)
▪ Sandstone fragment of a Pillar of Ashoka with Brahmi inscription from Meerut, Uttar
Pradesh, India, (238 BC)
▪ The Kulu Vase found near a monastery in Himachal Pradesh, one of the earliest examples
of figurative art from the sub-continent, northern India, (1st century BC)
▪ Copper plate from Taxila, with important Kharoshthi inscription, Ancient India (now in
Pakistan), (1st century BC – 1st century AD)
▪ Indo-Scythian sandstone Mathura Lion Capital and Bracket figure from one of the gateways
to the Great Stupa at Sanchi, central India, (1st century AD)
▪ Bimaran Casket and Wardak Vase, reliquaries from ancient stupas in Afghanistan, (1st–2nd
centuries AD)
▪ Hoard of gold jewellery with precious stones found under the Enlightenment Throne at the
Mahabodhi Temple, Bodh Gaya, eastern India, (2nd century AD)
▪ Relic deposits from stupas at Ahin Posh, Ali Masjid, Gudivada, Manikyala, Sonala Pind,
Sanchi and Taxila, (1st–3rd centuries AD)
▪ Seated Hārītī and Buddha statues and other Gandhara sculptures from Kafir Kot, Jamal
Garhi, Takht-i-Bahi and Yusufzai, Pakistan, (1st–3rd centuries AD)
▪ Hephthalite silver bowl with hunting scenes from the Swat District, Pakistan, (460–479 AD)
▪ Three sandstone carved sculptures of the Buddha in Gupta style from Sarnath, eastern
 India, (5th–6th centuries AD)
▪ Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena with important record of the genealogy of the Later Gupta
dynasty up to king Ādityasena, Ghosrawan, Bihar, India, (675 AD)
▪ The Buddhapad Hoard of bronze images from southern India, (6th–8th centuries AD)
▪ Small bronze figure of Buddha Shakyamuni, Bihar, eastern India, (7th century AD)
▪ Stone statue of Buddha from the Sultanganj hoard, Bihar, eastern India, (7th–8th centuries
AD)
▪ Earliest known figure of the dancing four-armed god Shiva Nataraja, Pallava dynasty,
southern India (800 AD)
▪ Statue of Tara from Sri Lanka and the Thanjavur Shiva from Tamil Nadu, southern India,
(8th century & 10th century AD)
▪ Standing Pala statue of Buddha from Kurkihar, Bihar, India, (9th century AD)
▪ Several wooden architectural panels from the Kashmir Smast caves, northern Pakistan,
(9th–10th centuries AD)
▪ Hoard of Buddhist terracotta sealings from the Pala period found at the Nālandā Monastery,
Bihar, eastern India, (10th century AD)
▪ Statue of the goddess Ambika found at Dhar in central India, (1034 AD)
▪ Foundation inscription of the Ananta Vasudeva Temple in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, eastern
India, (1278 AD)
▪ Jade dragon cup that once belonged to Sultan Ulugh Beg from Samarkand, Uzbekistan,
(1420–1449 AD)
▪ Foundation inscription with Arabic inscription in Naskh script in the name of Sultan
Yusufshah from Gauda, Bengal, eastern India, (1477 AD)
▪ Large standing gilded copper figure of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, Nepal, (15th–16th
centuries AD)

Southeast Asia

▪ Earthenware tazza from the Phùng Nguyên culture, northern Vietnam, (2000–1500 BC)
▪ Pottery vessels and sherds from the ancient site of Ban Chiang, Thailand, (10th–1st
centuries BC)
▪ Bronze bell from Klang and iron socketed axe (tulang mawas) from Perak, western
Malaysia, (200 BC–200 AD)
▪ Group of six Buddhist clay votive plaques found in a cave in Patania, Penang, Malaysia,
(6th–11th centuries AD)
▪ The famous Sambas Treasure of buddhist gold and silver figures from west Borneo,
Indonesia, (8th–9th centuries AD)
▪ Three stone Buddha heads from the temple at Borobodur in Java, Indonesia, (9th century
AD)
▪ Granite Kinnari figure in the shape of a bird from Candi Prambanan in Java, Indonesia, (9th
century AD)
▪ Sandstone Champa figure of a rampant lion, Vietnam, (11th century AD)
▪ Gilded bronze figure of Śiva holding a rosary, Cambodia, (11th century AD)
▪ Stone figure representing the upper part of an eleven-headed Avalokiteśvara, Cambodia,
(12th century AD)
▪ Bronze figure of a seated Buddha from Bagan, Burma, (12th–13th centuries AD)
▪ Hoard of Southern Song dynasty ceramic vessels excavated at Pinagbayanan, Taysan
Municipality, Philippines, (12th–13th centuries AD)
▪ Statue of the Goddess Mamaki from Candi Jago, eastern Java, Indonesia, (13th–14th
centuries AD)
▪ Glazed terracotta tiles from the Shwegugyi Temple erected by king Dhammazedi in Bago,
Myanmar, (1476 AD)
▪ Inscribed bronze figure of a Buddha from Fang District, part of a large SE Asian collection
amassed by the Norwegian explorer Carl Bock, Thailand, (1540 AD)
▪ Large impression of the Buddha's foot made of gilded stone (known as Shwesettaw
Footprints) donated by Captain Frederick Marryat, from Ponoodang near Yangon, Myanmar,
(18th–19th centuries AD)

Room 33 - Cubic weights made Room 33 - One of the hu from

of chert from Mohenjo-daro, Huixian, China, 5th century BC
Pakistan, 2600-1900 BC

Room 33 - A hamsa sacred Room 33 - Stone sculpture of

goose vessel made of crystal the death of Buddha, Gandhara,
from Stupa 32, Taxila, Pakistan, Pakistan, 1st-3rd centuries AD
1st century AD
Room 91a - Section of the Room 33 - Gilded bronze statue
Admonitions Scroll by Chinese of the Buddha, Dhaneswar
artist Gu Kaizhi, China, c. 380 Khera, India, 5th century AD
AD

The Amitābha Buddha from Room 33 - The luohan from

Hancui on display in the Yixian made of glazed
museum's stairwell, China, 6th stoneware, China, 907-1125 AD
century AD

Sculpture of Goddess Ambika Sculpture of the two Jain

found at Dhar, India, 1034 AD tirthankaras Rishabhanatha and
Mahavira, Orissa, India,
11th-12th century AD
Room 33 - Western Zhou Room 33 - A crowned figure of
bronze ritual vessel known as the Bodhisattva Khasarpana
the "Kang Hou Gui", China, 11th Avalokiteśvara, India, 12th
century BC century AD

Room 33 - Covered hanging jar Room 33 - Hu-shaped altar

with underglaze decoration, Si flower vessel, Ming dynasty,
Satchanalai (Sawankalok), China, 15th -16th centuries AD
north-central Thailand,
14th-16th centuries AD

Room 33 - An assistant to the Room 33 - Statue of

Judge of Hell, figure from a Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara,
judgement group, Ming dynasty, gilded bronze. Nepal, 16th
China, 16th century AD century AD
 Portrait of Ibrâhîm 'Âdil Shâh II Room 90 - Courtesans of the
(1580–1626), Mughal Empire of Tamaya House, attributed to
India, 1615 AD Utagawa Toyoharu, screen
painting; Japan, Edo period, late
1770s or early 1780s AD

Room 33 - Large statue of Room 33 - Figure of seated

Buddha made of lacquer from Lama; of painted and varnished
Burma, 18th-19th century AD papier-mâché, Ladakh, India,
19th century AD

Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas

The British Museum houses one of the world's most

comprehensive collections of ethnographic material
from Africa, Oceania and the Americas, representing the
cultures of indigenous peoples throughout the world.
Over 350,000 objects[96] spanning thousands of years
tells the history of mankind from three major
continents and many rich and diverse cultures; the
collecting of modern artefacts is ongoing. Many Room 24 – The Wellcome Trust Gallery
individuals have added to the department's collection of Living and Dying, with Hoa
over the years but those assembled by Henry Christy, Hakananai'a, a moai, in the centre
Harry Beasley and William Oldman are outstanding.

Objects from this department are mostly on display in several galleries on the ground and lower
floors. Gallery 24 displays ethnographic from every continent while adjacent galleries focus on
North America and Mexico. A long suite of rooms (Gallery 25) on the lower floor display African
art. There are plans in place to develop permanent galleries for showcasing art from Oceania
and South America.

Africa

The Sainsbury African Galleries display 600 objects from

the greatest permanent collection of African arts and culture
in the world. The three permanent galleries provide a
substantial exhibition space for the museum's African
collection comprising over 200,000 objects. A curatorial
scope that encompasses both archaeological and
contemporary material, including both unique masterpieces
of artistry and objects of everyday life. A great addition was
material amassed by Sir Henry Wellcome, which was
donated by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in Room 25 – A collection of African
1954. throwing knives

Highlights of the African collection include objects found at

megalithic circles in The Gambia, a dozen exquisite Afro-Portuguese ivories, a series of
soapstone figures from the Kissi people in Sierra Leone and Liberia, hoard of bronze Kru
currency rings from the Sinoe River in Liberia, Asante goldwork and regalia from Ghana
including the Bowdich collection, the rare Akan Drum from the same region in west Africa, pair
of door panels and lintel from the palace at Ikere-Ekiti in Yorubaland, the Benin and Igbo-Ukwu
bronze sculptures, the beautiful Bronze Head of Queen Idia, a magnificent brass head of a
Yoruba ruler and quartz throne from Ife, a similar terracotta head from Iwinrin Grove near Ife,
the Apapa Hoard from Lagos and other mediaeval bronze hoards from Allabia and the Forçados
River in southern Nigeria.

Included is an Ikom monolith from Cross River State, several ancestral screens from the
Kalabari tribe in the Niger Delta, the Torday collection of central African sculpture, textiles and
weaponry from the Kuba Kingdom including three royal figures, the unique Luzira Head from
Uganda, processional crosses and other ecclesiastical and royal material from Gondar and
Magdala, Ethiopia following the British Expedition to Abyssinia, excavated objects from Great
Zimbabwe (that includes a unique soapstone, anthropomorphic figure) and satellite towns such
as Mutare including a large hoard of Iron Age soapstone figures, a rare divining bowl from the
Venda peoples and cave paintings and petroglyphs from South Africa.

Oceania

The British Museum's Oceanic collections originate from the vast area of the Pacific Ocean,
stretching from Papua New Guinea to Easter Island, from New Zealand to Hawaii. The three
main anthropological groups represented in the collection are Polynesia, Melanesia and
Micronesia – Aboriginal art from Australia is considered separately in its own right. Metal
working was not indigenous to Oceania before Europeans arrived, so many of the artefacts from
the collection are made from stone, shell, bone and bamboo. Prehistoric objects from the region
include a bird-shaped pestle and a group of stone mortars from Papua New Guinea.

The British Museum is fortunate in having some of the earliest Oceanic and Pacific collections,
many of which were put together by members of Cook's and Vancouver's expeditions or by
colonial administrators and explorers such as Sir George Grey, Sir Frederick Broome, Joseph
Bradshaw, Robert Christison, Gregory Mathews, Frederick Meinertzhagen, Thomas Mitchell
and Arthur Gordon, before Western culture significantly impacted on indigenous cultures. The
department has also benefited greatly from the legacy of pioneering anthropologists such as AC
Haddon, Bronisław Malinowski and Katherine Routledge. An artefact is a wooden Aboriginal
shield, probably dating from the late eighteenth century.[97] There is some debate as to whether
this shield was found at Botany Bay or, given the nature of the wood being red mangrove which
grows abundantly only 500 km north of Botany Bay, possibly obtained through trade networks
or at an entirely different location.[98][99]

The Wilson cabinet of curiosities from Palau is an example of pre-contact ware. Another
outstanding exemplar is the mourner's dress from Tahiti given to Cook on his second voyage,
one of only ten in existence. In the collection is a large war canoe from the island of Vella
Lavella in the Solomon Islands, one of the last ever to be built in the archipelago.[100]

The Māori collection is the finest outside New Zealand with many intricately carved wooden and
jade objects and the Aboriginal art collection is distinguished by its wide range of bark
paintings, including two very early bark etchings collected by John Hunter Kerr. A particularly
important group of objects was purchased from the London Missionary Society in 1911, that
includes the unique statue of A'a from Rurutu Island, the rare idol from the isle of Mangareva
and the Cook Islands deity figure. Other highlights include the huge Hawaiian statue of Kū-ka-
ili-moku or god of war (one of three extant in the world) and the famous Easter Island statues
Hoa Hakananai'a and Moai Hava.

Americas

The Americas collection mainly consists of 19th and 20th century items although the Paracas,
Moche, Inca, Maya, Aztec, Taino and other early cultures are well represented. The Kayung
totem pole, which was made in the late nineteenth century on Haida Gwaii, dominates the Great
Court and provides a fitting introduction to this very wide-ranging collection that stretches from
the very north of the North American continent where the Inuit population has lived for
centuries, to the tip of South America where indigenous tribes have long thrived in Patagonia.

Highlights of the collection include Aboriginal Canadian and Native American objects from
North America collected by the 5th Earl of Lonsdale, the Marquis of Lorne, the explorer David
Haig-Thomas and Bryan Mullanphy, Mayor of St. Louis, the Squier and Davis collection of
prehistoric mound relics from North America, two carved stone bowls in the form of a seated
human figure made by ancient North West Coast peoples from British Columbia, the headdress
of Chief Yellow Calf from the Arapaho tribe in Wyoming, a lidded rivercane basket from South
Carolina and the earliest historic example of Cherokee basketry, a selection of pottery vessels
found in prehistoric dwellings at Mesa Verde and Casas Grandes, one of the enigmatic crystal
skulls of unknown origin, a collection of nine turquoise Aztec mosaics from Mexico (the largest
in Europe), important artefacts from Teotihuacan and Isla de Sacrificios.

There are several rare pre-Columbian manuscripts including the Codex Zouche-Nuttall and
Codex Waecker-Gotter and post-colonial ones such as the Codex Aubin and Codex
Kingsborough, a spectacular series of Mayan lintels from Yaxchilan excavated by the British
Mayanist Alfred Maudslay, a very high quality Mayan collection that includes sculptures from
Copan, Tikal, Tulum, Pusilha, Naranjo and Nebaj (including the celebrated Fenton Vase), an
ornate calcite vase with jaguar handles from the Ulua Valley in Honduras, the Lord Moyne
collection from the Bay Islands, Honduras and Boyle collection from Nicarugua, over 20 stone
metates with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic ornamentation from Costa Rica, a group of
Zemi Figures from Vere, Jamaica, and wooden duhos from the Dominican Republic and The
Bahamas.

There are a collection of Pre-Columbian human mummies from sites across South America
including Ancon, Acari, Arica and Leyva, a number of prestigious pre-Columbian gold and
votive objects from Colombia, three axe-shaped gold diadems found near Camaná from the
Siguas culture in Peru, unique collection of Moche wooden figures and staffs from the Macabi
islands off Peru, ethnographic objects from across the Amazon region including the
Schomburgk and Maybury Lewis collections and part of the von Martius and von Spix
collection, two rare Tiwanaku pottery vessels from Lake Titicaca and important items from
Tierra del Fuego donated by Commander Phillip Parker King.

Room 26 - Stone pipe Room 2 - Stone tomb guardian,

representing an otter from part human part jaguar, from
Mound City, Ohio, USA, 200 BC San Agustín, Colombia, c.
- 400 AD 300-600 AD

Room 1 - Maya maize god Room 24 - Gold Lime Flasks

statue from Copán, Honduras, (poporos), Quimbaya Culture,
600-800 AD Colombia, 600-1100 AD
Room 27 - Lintel 25 from Room 24 - Bird pectoral made
Yaxchilan, Late Classic, Mexico, from gold alloy, Popayán,
600-900 AD Colombia, 900-1600 AD

Room 24 – Rapa Nui statue Room 27 - Double-headed

Hoa Hakananai'a, 1000 AD, serpent turquoise mosaic,
Wellcome Trust Gallery Aztec, Mexico, 1400-1500 AD

Room 27 - Turquoise Mosaic Room 2 - Miniature gold llama

Mask, Mixtec-Aztec, Mexico, figurine, Inca, Peru, about 1500
1400-1500 AD AD
Room 25 - Part of the famous Room 25 - Detail of one of the
collection of Benin brass Benin brass plaques in the
plaques, Nigeria, 1500-1600 AD museum, Nigeria, 1500-1600
AD

Room 25 - Benin ivory mask of Room 24 - Hawaiian feather

Queen Idia, Nigeria, 16th helmet or mahiole, late 1700s
century AD AD

Bowl decorated with pearl shell Great Court - Two house frontal
and boars' tusks, used to serve totem poles, Haida, British
the intoxicating drink kava, Columbia, Canada, about 1850
Hawaii, late 1700s AD AD
 Room 25 - Mask (wood and Room 25 - Otobo masquerade
pigment); Punu people, Gabon, in the Africa Gallery, Nigeria,
19th century AD 20th century AD

Room 25 - Modern
interpretation of kente cloth from
Ghana, late 20th century AD

Department of Coins and Medals

The British Museum is home to one of the world's finest numismatic collections, comprising
about a million objects, including coins, medals, tokens and paper money. The collection spans
the entire history of coinage from its origins in the 7th century BC to the present day and is
representative of both the East and West. The Department of Coins and Medals was created in
1861 and celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2011.[101]

Department of Conservation and Scientific Research

This department was founded in 1920. Conservation has six specialist areas: ceramics & glass;
metals; organic material (including textiles); stone, wall paintings and mosaics; Eastern
pictorial art and Western pictorial art. The science department[102] has and continues to
develop techniques to date artefacts, analyse and identify the materials used in their
manufacture, to identify the place an artefact originated and the techniques used in their
creation. The department also publishes its findings and discoveries.
Libraries and archives

This department covers all levels of education, from casual visitors, schools, degree level and
beyond. The museum's various libraries hold in excess of 350,000 books, journals and
pamphlets covering all areas of the museum's collection. Also the general museum archives
which date from its foundation in 1753 are overseen by this department; the individual
departments have their own separate archives and libraries covering their various areas of
responsibility, which can be consulted by the public on application. The Anthropology Library is
especially large, with 120,000 volumes.[103] However, the Paul Hamlyn Library, which had
become the central reference library of the British Museum and the only library there freely
open to the general public, closed permanently in August 2011.[104] The website and online
database of the collection also provide increasing amounts of information.

British Museum Press

The British Museum Press (BMP) is the publishing business and a division of the British
Museum Company Ltd., a company and a charity (established in 1973) wholly owned by the
trustees of the British Museum.[105]

The BMP publishes both popular and scholarly illustrated books to accompany the exhibition
programme and explore aspects of the general collection. Profits from their sales goes to
support the British Museum.[105]

Scholarly titles are published in the Research Publications series, all of which are peer-reviewed.
This series was started in 1978 and was originally called Occasional Papers. The series is
designed to disseminate research on items in the collection. Between six and eight titles are
published each year in this series.[106]

Controversies and criticism

Artefacts from other countries

It is a point of controversy whether museums should

possess artefacts looted from other countries,[8][107] and the
British Museum is a notable target for criticism. The Elgin
Marbles, Benin Bronzes, Ethiopian Tabots and the Rosetta
Stone are among the most disputed objects in its collections, A few of the Elgin Marbles (also
known as the Parthenon Marbles)
and organisations have been formed demanding the return
from the East Pediment of the
of these artefacts to their native countries. The Parthenon
Parthenon in Athens.
Marbles (Elgin Marbles) claimed by Greece were also cited
by UNESCO, among others, for restitution. From 1801 to
1812, Elgin's agents removed about half of the surviving
sculptures from the Parthenon, as well as sculptures from the Propylaea and Erechtheum. The
former director of the museum has stated, "We are indebted to Elgin for having rescued the
Parthenon sculptures and others from the Acropolis from the destruction they were suffering, as
well as from the damage that the Acropolis monuments, including the sculptures that he did not
remove, have suffered since."[108] The British Museum itself damaged some of the artefacts
during restoration in the 1930s.[109]

There is also controversy over artefacts taken during the destruction of the Old Summer Palace
in Beijing by an Anglo-French expeditionary force during the Second Opium War in 1860, an
event which drew a protest from Victor Hugo.[110][111] The British Museum and the Victoria and
Albert Museum, among others, have been asked since 2009 to open their archives for
investigation by a team of Chinese investigators as a part of an international mission to
document Chinese national treasures in foreign collections.[112] In 2010 Neil MacGregor, the
former Director of the British Museum, said he hoped that both British and Chinese
investigators would work together on the controversial collection.[113] In 2020 the museum
appointed a curator to research the history of its collections, including disputed items.[114]

The British Museum has stated that the "restitutionist premise, that whatever was made in a
country must return to an original geographical site, would empty both the British Museum and
the other great museums of the world".[115] The museum has also argued that the British
Museum Act of 1963 prevents any object from leaving its collection once it has entered it. "The
Museum owns its collections, but its Trustees are not empowered to dispose of them".[115][116]
Nevertheless, it has returned items such as Tasmanian Aboriginal burial remains when this was
consistent with legislation regarding the disposal of items in the collections.[117]

In late 2022, the British Museum had entered into preliminary negotiations with the Greek
government about the future of the Elgin marbles.[118]

Disputed items in the collection

▪ Elgin Marbles – claimed by Greece and backed by UNESCO among others for
restitution[119][120]
▪ Benin Bronzes – claimed by Nigeria; the Nigerian government has passed a resolution
demanding the return of all 700 bronze pieces.[121] 30 pieces of the bronzes were sold by
the British Museum privately from the 1950s until 1972, mostly back to the Nigerians.[122]
▪ Ethiopian Tabots, Pre-Axumite Civilisation Coins – claimed by Ethiopia[123][124]
▪ Four stolen drawings (Nazi plunder) – Compensation paid to Uri Peled for the amount of
£175,000 by the British Museum[125]
▪ Achaemenid empire gold and silver artefacts from the Oxus Treasure – in 2007 the
President of Tajikistan ordered experts to look into making a claim.[126]
▪ Rosetta Stone – claimed by Egypt[127]
▪ Dunhuang manuscripts, part of a cache of scrolls, manuscripts, paintings, scriptures, and
relics from the Mogao Caves, including the Diamond Sutra – claimed by the People's
Republic of China[128]
▪ Aboriginal shield – claimed by Aboriginal people of Australia.[99]
▪ Hoa Hakananai'a – claimed by Chile on behalf of Easter Island[129]
▪ Repatriation and reburial of human remains is a controversial issue, and the British Museum
has issued a policy on the subject.[130]
▪ Welsh artefacts – claimed by Welsh people, particularly for the return of the Mold gold
cape[131] but also the Rhyd-y-gors Shield, Moel Hebog shield and Llanllyfni lunula.[132][133]

Nazi-looted art

In 2002 the heirs of Dr. Arthur Feldmann, an art collector murdered in the Holocaust,
requested that four old master drawings stolen by the Gestapo in 1939 be returned to the family.
A UK High Court judge ruled in 2005 that it would be illegal for the British Museum to return
artworks looted by the Nazis to a Jewish family, despite its willingness and moral obligation to
do so.[134][135] The law was changed in 2009,[136] and again in 2022[137] giving museums
additional powers to return looted art or provide compensation. The heirs of Dr Feldmann
accepted a compensation payment for a looted drawing and stated that they were happy the
drawing would remain in the British Museum collection.[138]

According to the British Museum Spoliation report published by the Collections Trust in 2017,
"Around 30% of some 21,350 continental and British drawings acquired since 1933 have an
uncertain or incomplete provenance for the 1933–1945 period".[139] The museum lists these
works on its website and investigates claims for restitution.[140]

BP sponsorship

Since 2016, there have been a number of protests by activist groups, trade unions and the public
against the British Museum's relationship with the oil company BP which the protesters believe
implicates the museum in global warming.[141] In July 2019, Ahdaf Soueif resigned from the
British Museum's board of trustees in protest against the sponsorship.[142] In February 2020,
1,500 demonstrators, including British Museum staff, took part in a day of protest over the
issue.[143] In December 2023, it was announced that the British Museum had agreed to a new
£50 million sponsorship deal with BP.[144]

Chairman's Advisory Group

The Chairman's Advisory Group is an informal group of business leaders who provide advice to
the chairman on various issues including the museum's relationship with the British
government and policy on the museum's collections. Its existence was made public after a
freedom of information request by a group campaigning against the museum's links with the
fossil fuel industry. The museum has declined to name the members of the advisory group as
they are acting in their personal capacity.[145]

Thefts

Several incidents of theft from the museum have been recorded. During the 1970s, several
historic coins and medals were stolen.[146] In 1990 a 17th-century Japanese Kakiemon figure
was stolen. In 1991 two Meiji figurines were taken from a basement and in a separate incident a
fragment of a gold ring was taken from a store. In 1993 fifteen Roman coins and jewellery worth
£250,000 were stolen. In 1996 a Japanese chest and two Persian books were stolen.[147]

In July 2002 a marble head, valued at £50,000, was stolen from the Archaic Greek gallery.[148]
In 2004, 15 "historically important" Chinese artefacts, including jewels, ornate hairpins and
fingernail guards were stolen. In 2017, it was revealed that a Cartier diamond had been missing
since 2011.[146]

In August 2023, a staff member was fired after it emerged that items including gold, jewellery
and gems had been stolen over a "significant" period of time. The incident led to an
investigation by the Metropolitan Police and an independent review by the museum.[149] Some
of the missing artefacts were later found to have been sold on eBay for considerably less than
their estimated value.[146] The museum had been warned of the thefts as early as 2021. The
museum's director, Hartwig Fischer, announced that he would resign because the museum "did
not respond as comprehensively as it should have" to the warnings of theft.[150] The number of
artefacts stolen was estimated to be at about 2,000; some of which were subsequently
recovered.[151] As a consequence of the thefts, the museum announced a five-year plan to
digitise the complete collection and make it available to view online.[152]

Copyright settlement

In August 2023, the British Museum reached a settlement with translator Yilin Wang over
translations she had done of the poet Qiu Jin. The museum had used her work without credit or
permission in their exhibit “China’s Hidden Century” which ran between May 2023 and October
2023.[153]

Galleries
Building

Main Staircase, British Museum Ceiling of the Great Detail of an Ionic

Discobolus of Myron Reading Room Court and the black capital on a pilaster in
(the Discus-Thrower) siltstone obelisks of the Great Court
Nectanebo II,
c. 350 BC

African Garden –
created by BBC TV
programme Ground
Force

Museum galleries

Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan

 Room 4 – Egyptian Room 4 Room 4
Sculpture, view
towards the Assyrian
Transept

Department of the Middle East

The British Museum, Room 8 – Pair of Room 7 – Reliefs Room 89 – Nimrud &
Room 6 – Assyrian Lamassu from from the North-west Nineveh Palace
Sculpture Nimrud & reliefs from palace of Reliefs
the palace of Tiglath- Ashurnasirpal II,
Pileser III Nimrud

Room 10 – Nineveh,
The Royal Lion Hunt

Department of Greece and Rome

 Room 18 – Ancient Room 20a – Tomb of Room 85 – Portrait Room 84 – Towneley
Greece Merehi & Greek Sculpture, Roman Roman Sculptures
Vases, Lycia, 360 BC

Main Staircase – Main Staircase –

Discobolus, Roman Townley Caryatid,
Roman, 140–160 AD

Digital and online

The museum has a collaboration with the Google Cultural Institute to bring the collection
online.[154]

Exhibitions
▪ Chronology of Temporary Exhibitions at the British Museum (https://www.britishmuseum.or
g/pdf/RP_Exhibitions_Chronology.pdf), by Joanna Bowring (British Museum Research
Paper 189, 2012) lists all temporary exhibitions from 1838 to 2012.

Forgotten Empire Exhibition (October 2005 – January 2006)

Room 5 – Exhibitions Room 5 – The Room 5 – Exhibitions

Panorama Persepolis Casts Relics
 Room 5 – The Cyrus
Cylinder

From January to April 2012 the museum presented Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, the
first major exhibition on the topic of the Hajj, the pilgrimage that is one of the five pillars of
Islam.[155][156]

See also
▪ 2016–17 all-female UK terror plot – involved a plan to attack the British Museum

Notes
a. Among the national museums in London, sculpture and decorative and applied art are in the
Victoria and Albert Museum; the British Museum houses earlier art, non-Western art, prints
and drawings. The National Gallery holds the national collection of Western European art to
about 1900, while art of the 20th century on is at Tate Modern. Tate Britain holds British Art
from 1500 onwards. Books, manuscripts and many works on paper are in the British Library.
There are significant overlaps between the coverage of the various collections.
b. By the Act of Parliament it received a name – the British Museum. The origin of the name is
not known; the word 'British' had some resonance nationally at this period, so soon after the
Jacobite rebellion of 1745; it must be assumed that the museum was christened in this light.
[15]

c. The estimated footage of the various libraries as reported to the trustees has been
summarised by Harris (1998), 3,6: Sloane 4,600, Harley 1,700, Cotton 384, Edwards 576,
The Royal Library 1,890.
d. This was perhaps rather unfortunate as the title to the house was complicated by the fact
that part of the building had been erected on leasehold property (the Crown lease of which
ran out in 1771); perhaps that is why George III paid such a modest price (nominally
£28,000) for what was to become Buckingham Palace. See Howard Colvin et al. (1976),
134.
e. Understanding of the foundation of the National Gallery is complicated by the fact that there
is no documented history of the institution. At first the National Gallery functioned effectively
as part of the British Museum, to which the trustees transferred most of their most important
pictures (ex. portraits). Full control was handed over to the National Gallery in 1868, after
the National Gallery Act 1856 established the gallery as an independent body.
f. Ashmole, the Keeper of the Greek and Roman Antiquities appreciated the original top-
lighting of these galleries and removed the Victorian colour scheme, commenting:

The old Elgin Gallery was painted a deep terracotta red, which, though in some
 ways satisfactory, diminished its apparent size, and was apt to produce a
depressing effect on the visitor. It was decided to experiment with lighter colours,
and the walls of the large room were painted with what was, at its first
application, a pure cold white, but which after a year's exposure had
unfortunately yellowed. The small Elgin Room was painted with pure white tinted
with prussian blue, and the Room of the metopes was painted with pure white
tinted with cobalt blue and black; it was necessary, for practical reasons, to
colour all the dadoes a darker colour[40]

g. Ashmole had never liked the Duveen Gallery:

It is, I suppose, not positively bad, but it could have been infinitely better. It is
pretentious, in that it uses the ancient Marbles to decorate itself. This is a long
outmoded idea, and the exact opposite of what a sculpture gallery should do.
And, although it incorporates them, it is out of scale, and tends to dwarf them
with its bogus Doric features, including those columns, supporting almost nothing
which would have made an ancient Greek artist architect wince. The source of
daylight is too high above the sculptures, a fault that is only concealed by the
amount of reflection from the pinkish marble walls. These are too similar in
colour to the marbles... These half-dozen elementary errors were pointed out by
everyone in the Museum, and by many scholars outside, when the building was
projected.[45]

It was not until the 1980s that the installation of a lighting scheme removed his greatest
criticism of the building.
h. The Cairo Museum has 200,000 artefacts, with leading collections reposited at the Egyptian
Museum of Berlin (100,000), Musée du Louvre (60,000), Petrie Museum (80,000), The
Metropolitan Museum of art (26,000), University of Pennsylvania (42,000), Ashmolean
Museum (40,000), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (40,000), Museo Egizio, Turin (32,500
objects).

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Further reading
Anderson, Robert (2005). The Great Court and the British Museum. London: The British
Museum Press
Arrowsmith, Rupert Richard. Modernism and the Museum: Asian, African and Pacific Art and
the London Avant Garde (https://books.google.com/books?id=MIBNXScRj3QC&lpg=PP1&d
q=modernism%20and%20the%20museum&pg=PP1). Oxford University Press, 2011,
pp. 103–164. ISBN 978-0-19-959369-9.
Arrowsmith, Rupert Richard. "The Transcultural Roots of Modernism: Imagist Poetry, Japanese
Visual Culture, and the Western Museum System" (http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modernism-
modernity/summary/v018/18.1.arrowsmith.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2016
0304000000/http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modernism-modernity/summary/v018/18.1.arrows
mith.html) 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Modernism/modernity Volume 18,
Number 1, January 2011, pp. 27–42. ISSN 1071-6068 (https://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=
x0:jrnl&q=n2:1071-6068).
Bowring, Joanna (2012). Chronology of Temporary Exhibitions at the British Museum (https://w
ww.britishmuseum.org/pdf/RP_Exhibitions_Chronology.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20181119160033/https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/RP_Exhibitions_Chronology.pdf)
19 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine London: British Museum Research Paper 189.
Caygill, Marjorie (2006). The British Museum: 250 Years. London: The British Museum Press
Caygill, Marjorie (2002). The Story of the British Museum. London: The British Museum Press
--do.-- (2009) Treasures of the British Museum London: The British Museum Press
ISBN 0714150622 (1st ed. 1985; 2nd ed. 1992)
Cook, B. F. (2005). The Elgin Marbles. London: The British Museum Press
Esdaile, Arundell (1946) The British Museum Library: a Short History and Survey. London: Allen
& Unwin
Jacobs, Norman (2010) Behind the Colonnade. Stroud: The History Press
Jenkins, Ian (2006). Greek Architecture and its Sculpture in The British Museum. London: The
British Museum Press
Francis, Frank, ed. (1971) Treasures of the British Museum. London: Thames & Hudson (rev.
ed., 1975)
Moser, Stephanie (2006). Wondrous Curiosities: Ancient Egypt at The British Museum.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press
Reade, Julian (2004). Assyrian Sculpture. London: The British Museum Press
Reeve, John (2003). The British Museum: Visitor's Guide. London: The British Museum Press
Wilson, David M. (2002). The British Museum: a history. London: The British Museum Press

External links
▪ Official website (http://britishmuseum.org/)
▪ The British Museum (http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45210&strquery=
 museum) from The Survey of London
▪ British Museum elevation (http://www.streetsensation.co.uk/sights/british_museum.htm)
▪ "The British Museum Trust Ltd., registered charity no. 1140844" (https://register-of-charitie
s.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1140844&subId=0). Charity Commission
for England and Wales.
▪ Works by British Museum (https://www.gutenberg.org/author/British+Museum) at Project
Gutenberg
▪ Works by or about British Museum (https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subjec
t%3A%22Museum%2C%20British%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22British%20Museum%2
2%20OR%20creator%3A%22Museum%2C%20British%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Briti
sh%20Museum%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Museum%2C%20B%2E%22%20OR%20tit
le%3A%22British%20Museum%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Museum%2C%20Britis
h%22%20OR%20description%3A%22British%20Museum%22%29%29%20AND%20%28-
mediatype:software%29) at Internet Archive
▪ Virtual tour of the British Museum (https://artsandculture.google.com/u/0/partner/the-british-
museum?hl=en%3F%3F) provided by Google Arts & Culture

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