British Museum
One of the world's great public museums, the British Museum traces human curiosity across continents and millennia. Founded in 1753, its eight-million-object collection ranges from Ice Age tools to contemporary prints and coins. It changed how we read the past: the Rosetta Stone (196 BC) unlocked hieroglyphs, while Assyrian reliefs revived lost empires. Signature moments continue in London: the Parthenon sculptures reframe classical art, and Norman Foster's Great Court (2000) turns scholarship into civic spectacle. Entry is free; book a timed ticket, start in Room 4 with the Rosetta Stone, then follow your interests floor by floor. Some objects have complex histories; galleries now add provenance notes and international loans to present multiple voices with care.
Opening Hours
What's not to miss inside?
Rosetta Stone
Key to decoding Egyptian hieroglyphsCarved in 196 BC and rediscovered in 1799, its Greek, Demotic and hieroglyphic texts let Champollion crack the code of ancient Egypt in 1822, giving voice to a lost script.
📍 Room 4, Ground Floor
Parthenon Sculptures
Masterpieces from Athens’ AcropolisCreated around 447-432 BC, these marble carvings once wrapped the Parthenon temple, showing ritual processions and mythic battles that set gods and mortals side by side.
📍 Room 18, Ground Floor
Egyptian Mummies
Burials spanning 3,000 yearsMore than 120 mummies and coffins, from c.3000 BC to Roman Egypt, chart changing beliefs, resins and wrappings used to prepare the dead for an eternal afterlife.
📍 Rooms 62-63, Upper Floor
Lewis Chessmen
12th-century Norse ivory chess setFound in 1831 on the Isle of Lewis, 93 walrus-ivory pieces-grimacing bishops to shield-biting rooks-reveal medieval humour and seafaring trade across the North Atlantic.
📍 Room 40, Upper Floor
Great Court
Europe’s largest covered public squareOpened in 2000, Norman Foster’s glass roof spans 3,312 uniquely shaped panes over two acres, transforming the 1857 Reading Room courtyard into a bright civic space.
📍 Central Hall, Ground Floor
Inspire your Friends
- Founded in 1753, the museum opened in 1759 on Great Russell Street as one of the world’s first public museums.
- The collection holds about 8 million objects-only around 1% can be displayed at once.
- In 2023 the museum welcomed about 5.8 million visitors, up roughly 42% on 2022.
- The Lewis Chessmen cameo as wizard chess pieces in the 2001 film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
- The Great Court’s glass roof covers two acres with 3,312 unique panes, no two exactly alike.
