What is in the British Museum. British Museum, London, UK

is the main historical and archaeological museum in Great Britain and one of the most major museums in the world. It contains exhibits from many countries formerly subject to colonial Britain. British museum can be called an unusual free entertainment for children, adults and even elderly visitors.

The British Museum is fun and, of course, interesting for visitors of all ages.

Address of the British Museum in London

Address - Great Russell Street, WCIB

How to get to the British Museum in London

• There are no metro stations very close by, the nearest metro station is Holborn
• It is also convenient to walk to the British Museum from Russell Square tube.

Opening hours of the British Museum in London - summer 2019

• Daily from 10:00 to 17:30
• Opening hours have been extended to 8:30 pm on Fridays, excluding Good Friday (19 April 2019). Some exhibitions may be closed in the evening
• The museum is closed December 24-26 and January 1

Ticket prices to the British Museum in London - summer 2019

• the entrance is free
• We strongly recommend using the audio guide (available in Russian). It will make visiting the British Museum much more interesting and educational. Audio guide rental costs £7 for adults and £6 for children, students and over 60s.

Exhibits of the British Museum

The museum collections occupy 94 galleries, the total length of which is more than four kilometers. Artworks on display Ancient Greece and Mesopotamia, Ancient Rome And Ancient Egypt, as well as objects created in the Middle Ages. You will see Egyptian sarcophagi and ancient sculptures, as well as collections of medals and coins, engravings and drawings.

The British Museum houses antiquities from all over the world, and among the most interesting exhibits you can note:

• Rosetta Stone with texts executed in 196 BC. The artifact joined the Egyptian exposition in 1802
• Antique sculptures of the Parthenon, which in the 19th century the English collector Lord Thomas Elgin removed from the ancient Greek temple in Athens. And no matter how Greece asks to hand over the beautiful statues that belong to it, they remain in the UK
• The mummy of the high priestess of Amun-Ra named Katabet, whose age is about three and a half thousand years. The priestess has a mask on her face, and her body is wrapped in cloth.
• Hoa Hakananaya is a statue from Easter Island made of basalt tuff, a material of volcanic origin. Hoa Hakananaya means "lost and hidden friend"
• Manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci
• One of the most ancient images of Jesus Christ that has come down to us.

Many of the exhibits came to Britain under shady circumstances, including ancient objects and historical monuments from Greece and Egypt. These countries are still demanding the return of artifacts.

In addition to the usual two-legged employees, the staff officially includes six cats who work as rat catchers.

Depending on your time, you can view the collections in 2-3 hours or devote several days to the exhibitions.

After the end of the war, it took several years to restore the halls and museum collections of the British Museum. In terms of attendance, the British Museum ranks second in the world after

British Museum in London– these are 13 million exhibits describing humanity from the Paleolithic period to the present. In terms of attendance, it ranks second on the planet, and in the UK it is the most popular tourist attraction. More than 6.5 million people visit it annually. If you are planning to become one of them, check out useful information for tourists about the exhibition, history and visiting procedures.

A unique historical and archaeological collection

Here you can see archaeological sites from all over the world. Descriptions of the British Museum contain the definitions “largest” or “greatest outside the historical homeland” for most funds. Thus, more Egyptian antiquities can be found only in Cairo. The Middle East department is the largest outside of Iraq. The collection of items from the early European Middle Ages is the largest in the world.

IN British Museum works exhibited in 100 galleries, formed on historical and territorial grounds. They are divided into thematic sections. The richest archaeological finds are:

• from Egypt;
• Greece and Rome;
• Middle East;
• European antiquities.

Colonial rule allowed Great Britain to form a large ethnographic collection dedicated to Africa, North and South America. From works of art art british museum has 50,000 drawings and more than 2 million engravings, including graphics by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Rembrandt, Dürer. Numismatics lovers will be attracted by the extensive coin database - more than a million banknotes and medals dating back to the 7th century BC.

Exhibits of the British Museum

Among exhibits of the British Museum in London there are truly unique ones. The most famous are the following:

• Rosetta Stone;
• Parthenon sculptures;
• Hall of clocks.

Many tourists specially come to gallery No. 4 to look at the most famous of the 110 thousand Egyptian artifacts - the Rosetta Stone. This is a granite slab on which the same inscription is carved in ancient Greek and ancient Egyptian. Thanks to this discovery, scientists were able to decipher ancient Egyptian writing and found the science of Egyptology.

Even short description of the British Museum not without mentioning another masterpiece - stucco from the Greek Parthenon, brought here in the 19th century, when Greece was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Greek treasures are also on display here:

• fragments of the frieze of the Acropolis;
• statue of Dionysus;
• many Greek and Roman statues.

There are disputes over these monuments between Great Britain and Greece, which demands their return to their homeland. Even at the time of their admission, not everyone thought this was correct, for example, Lord Byron advocated this.

The watch display is the most significant in the world. It can be used to trace the development of watchmaking in Europe. The most unusual exhibit is a clock in the shape of a ship, made in the 16th century in Prague.

Choosing what to see in the British Museum, you should not bypass the section dedicated to Britain itself. It contains artifacts dating back to the time of the first Celtic tribes. The only copy of the medieval epic Beowulf is unique. You can admire the medieval details of church decoration, jewelry, and household utensils.

History of the museum

The foundation of the museum took place more than 250 years ago - its doors opened to the public in 1759. The collection began with the will of the naturalist and collector Hans Sloan, according to which 71 thousand unique objects passed to the Crown after his death. Today, a bust of the founder stands in front of the doors on Great Russell Street.

History of the creation of the British Museum associated with the period of British colonial rule. Thanks to him, the funds received treasures from all over the world. Parliament organized special expeditions, as a result of which archaeological and ethnographic material was delivered. So, things of the natives were acquired, collected in world travels Cook. A special expedition, during which cuneiform texts were discovered, turned Britain into the most important center of Assyriology.

Important sources for replenishing the collections throughout its existence were also the purchase of private collections and generous gifts from patrons. Thus, sculptures and bas-reliefs taken from Athens by Lord Elgin were purchased. A separate gallery is a gift from Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild.

Purely historical British Museum didn't start right away. At first, in addition to Sloan's materials, it included two large libraries:

• Cotton;
• Harley.

Natural science objects were also represented in the collections - they were allocated as an independent museum institution in 1887 to increase space for the display of historical materials. The book depository gained independence already in the 20th century. – only the reading room in the center of the courtyard remained as a reminder of him.

Initially, Sloan's legacy was placed in the Montagu House mansion, which was purchased specifically for this purpose.

Among the interesting facts about the British Museum is that the option of placing it in Buckingham Palace was initially considered, but the organizers abandoned this option, considering it too expensive and inconveniently located.

With the rapid influx of storage units, space has become insufficient. Construction of a more spacious building on the previous territory began in 1823. By 1847, work was completed, and modern building, reminiscent of an ancient Greek temple.

In 1895, the board of trustees purchased 69 adjacent buildings to expand the exhibition space. In 1906, construction began.

The final architectural appearance of the premises, where is the british museum, was formed in 2000, when a covered courtyard with mesh ceilings around a circular reading hall appeared.

The total exhibition area is 92,000 sq.m., and to get around it all you need to travel more than 4 km.

Visiting is free for all tourists. Only certain temporary exhibitions can be paid for. On normal days the passage is open from 10 to 17-30, on Fridays the evening visiting hours are increased to 20-30.

Guide services for groups must be ordered in advance - to do this you need to write to email [email protected].

Excursion services for individual tourists are provided in the format of an audio guide, and an important fact about the British Museum is that it is also available in Russian. You can choose different inspection durations from 60 minutes to the whole day. The audio guide talks about 260 of the most notable objects, offers an inspection plan, and provides historiographical and cultural information. At the end, you can email yourself a souvenir of your trip.

The cost of the audio guide is 6 GBP; for persons under 19 years of age, students, unemployed people and elderly people over 60 years of age there is a discount - rental of the audio guide will cost 5.50 GBP.

In most premises you can take photographs for free, unless there is a special sign in the form of a crossed out camera.

Additional services

On the territory of the complex there are 4 souvenir shops with goods for every taste and budget. Jewelry based on ancient art, replicas of museum artifacts, books, calendars, dishes, towels and, of course, magnets with images of museum objects - all this can be selected in stores. A special selection of souvenirs is intended for children. For example, they are popular Stuffed Toys, depicting Egyptian gods: the cat Bastet and the dog Anubis. They sell for 15.99 GBP.

Fridge magnets cost about 3.5 EUR on average.

There are 3 small cafes and a restaurant on the roof of the library for visitors. Restaurant tables must be booked in advance, and cafes offer a small assortment of appetizers, salads and desserts at prices of 10-12 EUR. Two cafeterias operate in a large courtyard on the east and west sides, and a third larger cafe is located on the ground floor.

Transport

There are two entrances for visitors - the main one from Great Russell Street and an alternative one from Montague Place.

The most convenient way to get there is by metro - there are 4 stations within a radius of 500-800 meters, the closest of which are Tottenham Court Road and Holborn.

There are also three bus stops nearby, with more than 20 bus routes stopping at:

• New Oxford Street;
• Tottenham Court Road;
• Southampton Row.

Bicycle parking is also available.

Visiting the capital of England and passing by this treasury of world civilizations is an unforgivable oversight, especially since they do not charge any fee for the inspection. Even just quickly skimming through it, you can get indelible impressions, expand your horizons and take colorful photographs that will collect a lot of likes on social networks.

Martin Pettitt / flickr.com Paul Hudson / flickr.com Juan de Dios Santander Vela / flickr.com British Museum Hall, London (Jun / flickr.com) Greek Temple (Chris Favero / flickr.com) National cash machine(Sheri / flickr.com) British Museum Hall, London (Guillermo Viciano / flickr.com) Amanda Slater / flickr.com Queen of the Night (John W. Schulze / flickr.com) British Museum Library Reading Room (J Brew / flickr.com ) British Museum Library (J Brew / flickr.com) DAVID HOLT / flickr.com British Museum: Parthenon (bram_souffreau / flickr.com) Centaur and Lapis, Parthenon Marble Sculptures (Justin Norris / flickr.com) Stone sculpture of Durga Mahishasuramardini in the British museum in London (Peter Rivera / flickr.com) mendhak / flickr.com Egyptian mummy at the British Museum (InSapphoWeTrust / flickr.com) DAVID HOLT / flickr.com Paul Hudson / flickr.com

One of the main attractions of England, containing thousands of valuable exhibits, works different eras, masterpieces of world culture, can be called the British Museum in London. There are 94 galleries here, which stretch over four kilometers. These facts prove that the British Museum is one of the largest.

The founding year of the British Museum is considered to be 1753. Its opening even received government approval. But it received its first visitors only in 1759; before that, entry to outsiders was prohibited. Anyone could get acquainted with the exhibits of the museum only from 1847; before that, only a narrow circle of spectators was allowed there - local nobility and high-ranking officials close to the royal court.

Among its many exhibitions there are not only British landmarks. It stores exhibits and archaeological finds from all over the world.

The founders of the museum are considered to be private collectors who added their collections to the English national fund almost free of charge: Count Robert Harley, antiquarian Robert Cotton, Hans Sloan. Their assortment numbered tens of thousands of items, including ancient manuscripts, monuments, and ancient valuables. Robert Cotton, with his large collection of books, gave rise to the famous British Library.

Exhibit of the British national museum in London (Paul Hudson / flickr.com)

The initial collection was placed near the capital of the British Kingdom in the aristocratic building Montague House. Initially, it was replenished with new acquisitions. Among them: rare Townley marbles, amazing antique vases by W. Hamilton, valuable ancient objects from the collections of Greville and Elgin.

The appearance of not all exhibits was voluntary and peaceful; their appearance is the secret of the British Museum. One widely used source for expanding the museum's attractions is the appropriation of masterpieces of art and antiquities by the British Empire from its colonial territories. Many museum additions are shrouded in mystery, an example of which is the Rosetta Stone, which ended up in the museum under mysterious circumstances.

Nowadays, some countries, for example, Greece and Egypt, are demanding the return of historical monuments illegally exported a couple of centuries ago to their homeland.

National Cash Register (Sheri/flickr.com)

The British Museum carefully preserves mystical mysteries and hidden secrets behind its walls. It was they who inspired director Tomomi Nagasawa to create the entire series “Secrets of the British Museum”.

Gradually, the British Museum replenished its collections and expanded their species diversity, which forced its administration to divide all artifacts into thematic exhibitions.

By the middle of the first half of the 19th century century, it was decided to demolish Montagu House due to lack of space to accommodate exhibits. This decision was carried out in 1847. Montagu House was replaced by a new building - the creation of Robert Smike in the style of classicism, which to this day preserves the untold riches of the museum.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the British Museum replenished its treasures with Middle Eastern works of art thanks to an archaeological expedition in Mesopotamia. Today, work continues to replenish the museum’s storage not only with ancient treasures, but also with masterpieces of modern art.

At the beginning of the museum's origins, one of its main and large-scale funds was the library. Its contents number several tens of millions of copies. Among them are millions of printed publications, a couple of hundred thousand manuscripts from different periods and eras, half a million geographical maps and even about a million copies of sheet music.

British Museum Library (J Brew / flickr.com)

All library copies are organized by department. The scientific field includes about 20 thousand scientific journals of a narrow focus, in addition, it contains about 110 thousand volumes, including a large number of patents. At the end of the 20th century, it expanded its collections with the Codex Sinaiticus, the most full list Hebraistic texts, manuscripts from Dunhuang and many other valuable works.

Since the creation of the library, many people have worked in its halls famous people, among them were such personalities as Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin. To get acquainted with at least a tiny share of the library’s collections, six reading rooms, designed for 670 readers.

Since 1972, by decision of Parliament, the contents of the library were moved to a separate building, thus separating it from the British Museum.

Pearls of the British Museum

The British Museum, under its roof, stores more than ten million exhibits from different centuries, civilizations, cultural movements, and world masterpieces of art. Among the most unique and valuable are:

• The Minoan gold treasure, once kept on the island of Aegina, belonged to a highly developed ancient civilization before 1500 BC e.;
• the gold-covered mummy of Katebet, buried around 1250 BC;
• unique statues brought from the Halicarnassus Mausoleum, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, discovered by archaeologists during the museum’s excavations, which began in 1840 in Asia Minor;
• tablets from the 8th century BC. King Ashurbanipal, made using the cuneiform method;
• the famous profile of Pharaoh Ramses 2nd of Ancient Thebes;
• Jewelry from the Achaemenid era, made to perfection for the 5th century BC. e. of gold and silver;
• priceless marble friezes of the Athens Parthenon.

Many great artifacts are on display for museum visitors in its many rooms dedicated to Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and Sudan, the Middle East, Asia and other thematic rooms.

Special Events

Entry to the British Museum is free. On weekends, the library is especially popular among teenagers.

Egyptian mummy in the British Museum (InSapphoWeTrust / flickr.com)

On Sunday, events of the Young Friends of the British Museum club are held within its walls, in which many schoolchildren participate, who have access to exhibits hidden from ordinary visitors.

Currently, the British Museum delights art lovers with an already widespread event - Museum Night. It is held several times a year. Each time the museum invites visitors for the whole night, each of which has a thematic name - “Japanese Night”, “Egyptian Night” and others.

The British Museum publishes information about all ongoing activities and events in its magazine British Museum Quarterly, published since 1926.

The British Museum in London is one of the oldest and largest historical museums in the world, an actively visited tourist attraction, which contains unique artifacts and artistic masterpieces from all over the world. We will tell you about the history of the museum, its secrets, exhibitions, library and how you can get there on your own.

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The museum's exhibitions are based on private collections three famous in the company of individuals who donated their collections to the newly formed State Historical and Archaeological Museum. The act of its creation was approved by the British Parliament in 1753. The first baronet, president of the scientific Royal Society, Hans Sloan, being a keen collector, collected many different curiosities of natural origin, which later became priceless rarities of the British Museum.

Antiquarian and bibliomaniac Robert Cotton, who collected a large number of manuscripts and books, made a significant contribution to the creation of museum funds: the collection of his manuscripts became the basis of an entire department, which later became the British Library.

Oxford Earl, politician, public figure Robert Harley, who was friends with Swift and Pope, had an interest in ancient books and manuscripts. All his life he was a passionate collector of book rarities, which were donated to the museum and significantly expanded its holdings. The names of these public figures are revered sacred by the British; their biographies are studied in schools and universities, and special sections of museum exhibitions are devoted to them.

At first, the museum was located in the Montague mansion in the Bloomsbury area, but it quickly began to be replenished with new exhibits, which were already cramped within the confines of one building. During the Victorian reign, a colossal classical building was built, which still houses the museum.

Secrets of the Museum

No museum in the world has as many mysterious exhibits, over the origin and history of which archaeologists and ethnologists are puzzling, as there are in the British Museum. Among them are many priceless artifacts that played an invaluable role in the study of ancient civilizations that left significant traces on our planet in the form Egyptian pyramids, giants of Easter Island and other unique creatures. By using modern technologies employees can accurately determine the time of creation of artifacts, their location, and establish their true original appearance, nationality the person depicted in the sculpture. LED lamps help to find out even the color of already faded paints.

The storage facilities maintain a constant temperature, which promotes high-quality preservation of rarities. Museum scientists organize expeditions to excavation sites from which objects from bygone eras were recovered and carefully explore the areas again, deepening and expanding them. Many secrets of the life of the past of ancient states were revealed here, thanks to the research of unique artifacts. There are serious claims regarding the location of some of them from other states claiming the right to own them.

The Egyptians believe that the Rosetta stone should belong to them; Tajiks demand the return of the Oka treasure; China lays claim to manuscripts, paintings and other rarities from Mogao Cave. Nigerians are seeking the return of Benin bronze sculptures. The museum's exhibitions contain rare rarities representing the ancient states of Egypt, Hellas, Urartu, Elam, the Median Kingdom, India, Babylon, Mesopotamia and others. Scientist-enthusiasts and employees of the British Museum carefully examine ancient exhibits, unraveling the secrets of the past captured in them, thereby making an invaluable contribution to the history of the development of society.

Exhibitions

Artifacts of Ancient Egypt

One of the richest exhibitions of the museum, which presents the diverse history of the most developed ancient civilization. The Rosetta Stone is the most important exhibit, causing real controversy in the world over who should own it. It was he who made it possible to study Egyptian writing after the deciphering of the hieroglyphs written on it by the French orientalist Champillon, who laid the foundation for Egyptology. During Napoleonic's campaign in Egypt (1798), during excavation work during the construction of a fort, engineer Bouchard discovered a granite slab with inscriptions inscribed on it. The find was sent to Cairo, where scientists began studying the texts and realized that they were dealing with an object from the 2nd century BC. e.

The stone instantly became a priceless artifact, for the possession of which the English government made concessions and signed the Alexandrinian Truce Treaty (1801) in exchange for the ancient treasure. Thanks to the intellectual efforts of the famous Frenchman, the stone “spoke” and made it possible to subsequently learn a lot about the history of Egypt. The statues of Pharaoh Ramses II, Amonophis III, the sarcophagus of the mummy of Cleopatra - the most valuable exhibits that many museums around the world dream about, are carefully stored here and restored by the most experienced and talented craftsmen (the museum has 50 restorers on staff).

Nowhere else will you see a unique sculptural bust of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, sculpted from stone limestone, his statue and a sculptural image of his head, carved from red granite. In total, the exhibitions of Ancient Egypt contain about 110 thousand objects: it is impossible to put them all on display at once in 7 thematic galleries, which accommodate only 4% of the exhibits, including 140 mummies and funeral urns. A unique artifact is the Amarna Archive, which provides valuable historical information: 95 clay plates containing diplomatic correspondence of the pharaohs for 1350 BC. e. and giving a reliable picture of life in those years.

Greece and Rome

A department with more than 100 thousand ancient Greek and Roman exhibits, reflecting a long period of development of the two civilizations. Here are priceless rarities - evidence of the Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean cultures of the ancient Hellenes. The true treasures are:

• the rarest sculptures that decorated the Athens Parthenon
• figures of King Mausolus and Queen Artemisia
• details of a horse sculpture from the Halicarnassus Mausoleum
• Etruscan sarcophagus 2nd century. BC e. and others

Of great interest are prehistoric gold decoration(brooch), Roman sword with scabbard; frieze depicting scenes of the war between the Amazons and the Greeks.

Near East

One of the most numerous exhibitions of the museum is represented by more than 330 thousand exhibits illustrating the development of ancient civilizations, ranging from Mesopotamia to Phenicia. The funds of this department were actively replenished in the first half of the 19th century, when expeditions of English archaeologists began to be organized in Iraq (Mesopotamia, Babylon, Assyria, Sumer), Turkey (Karkemiche).

During the excavations, thousands of objects of culture, everyday life, ancient writing, the richest treasures with jewelry (Amur Darya treasure). The art of ancient Islam is represented by 40 thousand exhibits: products from the finest ceramics, glass, bronze, silver and gold are exhibited in 13 galleries, where 4,500 objects are simultaneously exhibited.

Values ​​of enduring global significance include:

• bas-relief decorations of the Assyrian palace of Khorasabad
• fragments of the Balavat gate from the Assyrian fortress, which depict scenes of royal life
• gold and silver jewelry of the Ahemedinian kingdom (present-day Tajikistan)
• sculptures depicting lions with human heads
• clay tablet with text telling about the global flood

All the treasures, including statues, obelisks, bas-reliefs, Board games, musical instruments, tablets with cuneiform writing, too many to count. To see even a small part of them with your own eyes, you need to come to the British Museum several times.

Ancient history and Europe

Exhibits presenting items related to to the most ancient eras development of mankind (more than 2 million years ago) and material evidence of European history, and the collections of exhibits from the early Middle Ages in Europe are the richest in the world. Among the items there are genuine prehistoric and historical jewelry values:

• cup made of gold (Ringlemere, 8-16 centuries BC)
• gold necklace (Sintra, Portugal, (10th-8th centuries BC)
• silver items (Spain, 100 BC)
• Thetford treasure – silver and gold items (4th century AD)
• gold jewelry from the Sutton Hoo treasure, found in burial crypts of the 4th-7th centuries. n. e. in England
• 14th century French royal family gold cup
• shrine made of gold, decorated with many precious stones to store the sacred relic - the crown of thorns

There are real masterpieces of ivory carving art here: triptychs by Byzantine masters, the Englishman Grandison; 78 chess pieces carved from walrus tusks (Scotland) indicate high degree skill and artistic talent of carvers. Amazingly beautiful porcelain dishes with magnificent patterns and narrative paintings are displayed in glass cases.

Asia

A department represented by objects of Asian culture from prehistoric times to the present: Buddhist statues, bas-reliefs (India); porcelain, bronze, jade and other precious stones, Buddhist paintings and Buddha statue (China); sculptures made of gold and silver (Indonesia, Sambas).

Africa, America, Oceania

Exhibitions with a huge ethnographic collection of objects (350 thousand copies) illustrating the life of the aborigines of these continents: Aztecs, Mayans, Incas (America), Ashanti (Ghana) and representatives of other ancient indigenous peoples. The Aztec turquoise mosaics are amazing; sculptural group from Jamaica.

A department that contains millions of exhibits representing the history of the manufacture and use of coins in different periods human life (from the 7th century BC to the present day). All of them have high numismatic and historical value.

The exhibitions of this department contain approximately 50 thousand drawings, more than 2 million engravings and woodcuts famous artists Europe (14th century – today) from Leonardo da Vinci to modern avant-garde artists.

Drawings, lithographs, engravings, sketches, watercolors by Durer, Claude, Watt; almost 30 thousand works by English artists of the Middle Ages and modern times. An online database of 500 thousand exhibits, accompanied by high-quality illustrations, has been created.

Library

One of the largest repositories of printed and handwritten rarities in the world, with 6 reading rooms for 670 visitors. The library's collections contain almost 7 million volumes of various printed publications, 200 thousand copies of manuscripts in European languages, 38 thousand in Eastern languages; 250 thousand printed books; 500 thousand geographical maps; 1 million sheet music. The reference section of science and inventions has subscriptions to almost 20 thousand scientific and technical journals. Every year the library's collections increase by 1 million items. Here everyone can find any literary source, piece of art or a scientific report, historical information or poetic masterpieces.

The British Museum in London houses one of the richest collections of historical and art objects created in different places on the planet.

Of the significant countries of the world, perhaps only Russia is not represented in the British Museum (which is understandable: the long arms of the English colonialists did not reach our 1/6th of the world) and India is poorly represented (which is not clear).

The British Museum in London seemed to me a mixture of different proportions Pushkinsky in Moscow, the Hermitage and Ethnographic in St. Petersburg. Plus Berlin. And it also reminded me of the Louvre.

Most of all, it looks like the Pushkin Museum. And a majestic classical building in the Greco-Roman style, and an exhibition divided by country-era: Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome. A East Asia– it looks like the Moscow Museum of Oriental Peoples.

However, I have a mistake here. The above-mentioned museums came out of Gogol’s “The Overcoat,” from the British Museum, because it was the first museum of a new type.

The British Museum was created in 1753 and opened to visitors in 1759. It was then housed in the now-unpreserved Montagu House.

The museum was originally conceived as a collection of antiquities of Rome and Greece. But from the very beginning, its theme was much broader, since it was based on 3 collections - the doctor and naturalist Hans Sloan, Count Robert Harley, a collector of antiquities, and the library of the antiquarian Robert Cotton. And so he immediately included natural science exhibits and a large number of different books.

Since then, the museum has expanded and grown. And sometimes it gave birth to other institutions high culture. Thus, in 1845, the zoological, botanical, geological and mineralogical departments were separated into a separate Museum of Natural History.

And in 1973, by merging the British Museum library and several other libraries, the National Library of Great Britain was created.

The growing collection required new premises. In 1823-47, the current world-famous building was built on the site of Montagu House, designed by architect Robert Smirk. It is magnificent and a work of art in itself.

At the end of the 20th century, on the eve of the third millennium, the building underwent renovation according to the design of Norman Foster. In accordance with new trends, the museum space was redesigned, and the courtyard was covered with a huge glass dome.

courtyard under the dome

Where is the British Museum located, how to get there. Opening hours

The British Museum is located in the heart of London at Great Russell Street, London. The museum building is huge and occupies an entire block. Therefore, there is also an entrance from Montague Place.

The museum is open daily from 10-00 to 17-30. On Friday – until 20-30, but not all exhibitions.

You can get to the museum by metro, the nearest stations of which are: Tottenham Court Road (500 m), Holborn (500 m), Russell Square (800 m), Goodge Street (800 m).

British Museum on the map of London

Buses stop directly near the museum: 1, 8, 19, 25, 38, 55, 98, 242.
Stop at New Oxford Street.

Since December 1, 2001, the main UK museums have stopped charging for admission, so the British Museum is free. And it doesn’t matter whether you are British or a citizen of any country in the world. And the museum’s motto reads: “A museum of the whole world for the whole world.” Only the question remains: maintaining such a huge museum requires enormous costs. Who is subsidizing it? In some corners there are boxes for voluntary donations, but this is unlikely to cover the costs.

What to watch

The collection of the British Museum is colossal. The British brought goods from all over the world to their museum, often without asking local residents. Nowadays this is considered colonial robbery. And many countries, in particular Greece, Egypt, Nigeria, are making claims, demanding that the valuables be returned to their place. Even Lenin, although he worked in the free library of the British Museum, was rumored to speak unflatteringly about it, calling it “an accumulation of colossal wealth looted by England from colonial countries.”
To justify the British, we can say: yes, they robbed, they did. They also took away the Parthenon marbles,

and one of the caryatids,

and they even grabbed moai from Easter Island, maybe they’ll come in handy.

Everything was studied and saved.

And before the British began to show interest in antiquities that were not made of precious metals and stones, did they represent even the slightest value in the eyes of the aborigines?

And finally, what is better: preserving historical values ​​in the British Museum or, for example, in Palmyra in Syria or Iraq? Where, with the help of explosives, bulldozers and sledgehammers, these objects were destroyed in front of all humanity?

Structure of the British Museum

The museum collection is divided into sections:

• Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome
• Asia (mainly China, Japan and Korea)
• Europe (by era, did not notice items related to Poland and the Balkans)
• Middle East (Babylon, Assyria, Urartu, Ancient Iran, etc.)
• Africa, Australia and Oceania
• America
• Engraving and graphics
• Numismatics.

money, money

And these are ancient Chinese coins

In addition, the huge museum has a souvenir shop, a cafe, and an educational center.

I’ll try to describe what I remember or was interested in.

Exhibits

First of all, we looked at the section dedicated to ancient Mesopotamia. On the expressive bas-reliefs, a series of arrogant kings and their faithful associates hunt, fight, and communicate with the gods.

I remember scenes of hunting lions, of which, judging by the pictures, there were a great many in Mesopotamia at that time. The ancient artists turned out the lions as if they were alive, in contrast to the rather static people.

Persian antiquities belong to a later period of history.

Nearby is a collection of Ancient Egypt. Egyptian statues exude an unearthly calm. It's like they know they have an eternity ahead of them.

Although there are also very natural pictures from everyday life.

and episodes of war

famous image of the victory of the king of Upper Egypt over the king of Lower Egypt

It’s amazing how ancient Egyptian craftsmen achieved such perfection in processing the hardest stone, because they didn’t even have iron tools?

The most interesting thing for me was the exposition Ancient Greece. It is in the British Museum in London that sculptures from the Parthenon friezes are kept. And I’ve been dreaming of seeing them since I visited.

Also stored there is what remains of the Halicarnassus Mausoleum (let me remind you, one of the seven wonders of the world),

facade of the Nereid temple from Lycia (modern Türkiye) and much more.

facade of the Nereid temple

The skill of the ancient Hellenes is beyond praise. In my opinion they can't be beat.

Next to the Greek ones there are no less interesting Roman and Etruscan products.

roman mosaic

Etruscan sculptures

A very interesting meeting dedicated to medieval Europe. Particularly a lot of space is devoted to British antiquities, which is understandable.

But Russia is mentioned only as a distant Norman province.

Lots of Japanese artifacts. Japan has had an unusual historical path, and it is well represented in the exhibition.

this work belongs to the pre-Japanese Jomon culture

one of the first truly Japanese works

modern Japanese bone work

antique bone work

samurai weapons and armor

At the end of the 19th century, the Japanese aspired to be like the Europeans and succeeded in doing so.

photograph of the Japanese imperial family from the late 19th century. Does this remind you of anything?

It will be interesting to get acquainted with the masterpieces made by the American Indians. Their art is original and captivating.

Totem poles of the Tlingit Indians, who were at one time Russian subjects

Look how perfect the Indian dragon is

and how sophisticated the sculptures made by the Mayans are

There is so much humor in the products of African craftsmen!

a white man

African

Good so-called Benin bronze (which is actually brass)

How aesthetically verified Arabic script is

You cannot embrace the immensity and see everything. On many sites it is written this way: select 1-2-3 exposures. But you need to spend days and weeks on the entire museum. Nevertheless, we plucked up the nerve and ran through all the halls. Well, or almost everything, in 4 and a half hours.

And not so tired. It turned out that, having received a Soviet education, we were brought up on the collection of the British Museum (sometimes without realizing it). We are familiar with these objects of art from school textbooks, articles in magazines, and the TV show “Travelers Club”.

I read in many reviews that the British Museum in London is interesting only for museum lovers. I agree. Those who are interested in shopping should go to the hypermarket on the next street, those who like beer should go to pubs, those who prefer beach holiday– he has nothing to do in London at all. Well, for those who are not alien to the history of civilization, who are interested in art, the British Museum is a must-visit.

In addition to the hotel, in London you can rent housing from private owners (a house, part of a house, an apartment) through Airbnb. Registering using my invitation link and

Rental of bicycles, scooters, ATVs and motorcycles -