The British Museum is the world’s oldest national public museum. It was established in 1753 to house four founding collections. The museum currently has over sixty galleries with artefacts from all over the world. Chief among them are the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian mummies and the (heavily disputed) Parthenon Marbles.
| Tickets | £ 0,- Booking of an advanced timeslot is advisable |
| Opening hours | Daily from 10:00 to 17:00 Late opening on Fridays until 20:30 Closed on certain bank holidays |
| Time needed | 3 hours |
British Museum
Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DG
You can visit the collection online!
The first public museum in the world! (But what is public? And what is a museum? And what about ownership of cultural artefacts?)
On this page…
We have wandered for hours and hours in the many galleries of ‘the British’. You could easily spend days on the vast collection. Luckily the museum offers several different walks throughout the collection. We haven’t done all of them, but I can generally recommend them. My most important tip, though: Regardless of routes and tours, pace yourself. Take your time and don’t hesitate to take a break from time to time. Get a coffee and recharge. This museum is vast!
Similar sights
History
The British Museum was founded in 1753 when Sir Hans Sloane’s collection of over 71,000 items was bequeathed to the British nation. By the 1753 Act of Parliament the country also purchased the Cotton and Harley Libraries. And in 1757, King George II donated the Old Royal Library. The museum has since split into the British Museum, the Natural History Museum (1881) and the British Library (1973).
The founding collections were originally housed in Montagu House. The manor stood in place of the current, 1823 to 1852 Greek Revival style building by Sir Robert Smirke. The first built part of that ‘new’ building, is still open to the public in a fairly original state: It is the King George III Library. The building expanded further a number of times in the following centuries.
The BM sustained significant damage during the London Blitz. The King’s Library received a hit during a raid on 23 September 1940 and large parts of the book collection burned in the aftermath of an incendiary bomb hitting the museum on 10 May 1941. Luckily worse was avoided, both due to brave staff acting as fire wardens throughout the war, and due to the foresight to evacuate the most important parts of the museum collection in 1939.
You can find out more on the official website of the museum.
Collection
The public collection of the British Museum spans many rooms and floors. The collection focusses on human history, art and culture. The already vast number of pieces on display amount to approximately 1% of the total collection.
It is nigh impossible to talk about the museum and to not touch upon the many disputes of ownership, the property claims by foreign governments and the history of the collection that is steeped in colonialism. We want to acknowledge the fact that there are many ongoing discussions, and many more that are still to be had.
The Highlights
‘Sutton Hoo mask, British Museum, 2025’, Rob Declerck 
‘Lewis Chessmen, British Museum, 2025’, Rob Declerck 
‘Jade tea pot, British Museum, 2025’, Rob Declerck 
‘Ming dynasty statue, British Museum, 2025’, Rob Declerck 
‘Tree of Life, British Museum, 2025’, Rob Declerck 
‘Parthenon Marbles, British Museum, 2025’, Rob Declerck 
‘Assyrian lion gate, British Museum, 2025’, Rob Declerck 
‘Ramses II, British Museum, 2025’, Rob Declerck
It is almost impossible to pick out the definitive must-see pieces from the vast collections. Luckily the museum itself marks the following seven items on its 2025 maps as the absolute must-see of its collection on display:
- Holy Thorn Reliquary
- Tang dynasty figures
- Shiva Nataraja
- Hoa Hakananai’a
- Rosetta Stone
- Assyrian Lion Hunt reliefs
- Parthenon Marbles
Other noteworthy collection pieces include:
- Sophilos Vase
- Crouching Venus
- Bust of Ramses the Great
- Ife Head
- Tree of Life
- Akan Drum
- Aztec serpent
- Piranesi Vase
- Haida House Poles
- Statue of Tara
- Mummy of Katebet
- Samurai Armour
- Royal Game of Ur
- Oxus treasure
- Sutton Hoo ship burial
- Lewis Chessmen
And allow me to add to that the entire King’s Library. As a sucker for ‘museums of museums’ (i.e. collections that are still somewhat in their original setup, many years later, thus showing the historical view on museums from when they were first opened to the public) I love to walk among the old cases. They also happen to give a great overview on the variety of things to be found in the rest of the museum.
For those who do not have the time to wander for days on end, the museum compiled a few tours you can follow by yourself: 12 things not to miss; the One hour at the museum trail; and the Three hours at the museum trail.
Visit the collection from home! The museum has a great YouTube-channel where its curators give small mini-lectures. I find them a great help to navigate the vast collections!
