The British Museum - London

People who are around in Britain, especially the visitors, it is a must for them to pay a visit to the British Museum. This is one of the oldest museums and was founded in 1753. The museum contains the almost all the available collections of human history. The British Museum houses a large number of artefacts and relics which are related to the history of the civilisation since the beginning. The collections are highly adorable and this is considered as the largest collections of world’s culture, history, treasures, art and many other events. The exact figure of the visitors at the museum is yet to be finalised as the number fluctuates each year but it is estimated that about over six million visitors come to visit the Museum annually.






The number of collections in this museum is around eight million. The British Museum is located in Bloomsbury area in London. The cultures of human civilisations from the very beginning to the till date is exhibited here. Besides, the collections have covered almost all the continents of the world and it took longer times to make the collections complete. The man who started the museum is known as Sir Hans Sloane. By profession, he was a physician and a scientist. He preserved all his collections that he gathered throughout his lifetime, and the museum was inaugurated on January 15 in 1759 for public visit. The museum has been expanded largely within over the two centuries and the most prominent enrichment took place during the British colonial expansion in different countries of the world.

The other important information about the museum is that it does not require any entry fee for the visitors. Thereby, it remains crowded always by visitors of different age and class. Though the museum has become a cultural icon, it was established as a universal museum which will have objects of all kinds. When the museum was founded, there were over 70,000 different objects personally collected by Sir Hans Sloane. The objects were gathered from different parts of the world including Greece, Rome, Sudan and Egypt while some of them were collected by him and some were imported. With the permission of King George the Second, the act was passed to form the museum legally. It has been renovated massively after the flood in 1931. Currently, the main entrance of the museum is designed like a Greek temple and the exhibition halls and rooms are decorated with modern amenities and features.



Now, there are different departments dealing with the artefacts and relics of specific geographical location. It is said that the museum accommodates the second largest collections of Egyptian antiquities. There over 100,000 objects are displayed in this museum and the largest collections are displayed at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo. The objects collected from Greece and Rome is also adorable. The collections of Mesopotamian antiquities are also notable and the collection is considered as the world’s largest collection over the region. The room for exhibiting the paintings and drawings always makes the visitors surprised for the enriched pieces. The collections range from the 14th century to the current day. Paintings of globally renowned painters are exhibited in the galleries.

Besides, the British Museum exhibits objects collected from different parts of the world including Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Moreover, the collections of coins and medals of the museum are significant as well. There are some disputed collections are also available here including Rosetta Stones of Egypt, manuscripts from China, Benin Bronze of Nigeria etc. Thereby, visiting the British Museum is a must for everyone, especially who want to know about human history, civilisation, art and culture of different eras. The visit at the museum will enrich the realm of knowledge and help to get a better understanding of the issues.

Top ten reasons to visit British Museum:

Typically, a museum is the place where history is preserved and under that consideration, the British Museum, established in 1753, is the warehouse of history. The museum is dedicated to the human history and contains a huge amount of permanent artefacts to allure the visitors. This is one of the most famous and most visited museums in the world. People of different nations come to visit the museum only for its valuable artefacts and know about the history of human civilisation. Besides, this is the museum that provides with some extraordinary features to the visitors. There are some other reasons found as well to pay a visit the British Museum when someone is in Britain and in fact this is a must visit for them. The reasons are pointed below –

Informal learning place: People usually learn from formal learning institutions and the British Museum should be considered as an informal learning place where the visitors could learn about different interesting things.

A free entrance: Generally many of the visiting places r exhibitions in England require an entrance fee but it is free for the visitors of the museum. They can easily enter into the galleries without spending a single pound.

Diversified artefacts: Majority of the exhibition halls are made based on any specific issue and thus the numbers of artefacts are fewer. But the British Museum is something different from them and contains around eight million artefacts which are really adorable.

Educative value: In most cases, the visitors gather in different recreational places where they get amusement only. But in this museum, there are a large number of artifacts available which have educative value too which could be applied in formal academic studies as well.

A perfect meeting place: If you want to meet someone in Britain, you could ask him or her to be at the British Museum. In fact, this is a perfect place for meeting and free of noises. Though this is a crowded place, none will interfere amid the meeting.

A link to the past: Usually the artifacts preserved at the British Museum are gathered from the past days, So, when a visitor visits the museum, s/ he starts connecting them to the past and by this way, it link people with the past days.

Positive time spending: When people visit the British Museum, they spend their times positively. In most of the cases, the leisure hours are spent in idle manner which in the long run be of no use. But the knowledge gained here may prove effective in some parts of the life.

A good eating place: Though most of such museums do not have facilities of eating, the British Museum is the example of an exceptions in this case. The place has few nice eating places allowing the visitors to take rest and eat snacks.

Photography: Often people visit museums and cannot get their pictures inside. The British Museum has not such restrictions and the visitors could take their photos after their will.

Attending free lecture: The British Museum frequently arranges for lectures over different historically important issues and attending the lectures will enrich the knowledge level of the visitors.