British Museum in London (the British Museum) was founded by order of the Parliament of the Kingdom at the end of the 18th century. Today it is one of the largest museums in the world. For many hundreds of years, British Museum are works of art of Ancient Greece, Rome, Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, medieval Asia and Europe, here are unique collections of coins and orders, drawings, frescoes, engravings. In addition to the ancient exhibits of the gallery of the British Museum, visitors are also presented with works of modern painting, graphics and sculpture. The British Museum contains over 90 rooms, the length of which exceeds 4 kilometers.
History of the British Museum.
The history of the British Museum begins in the winter of 1753 with the adoption of an Act of Parliament establishing the National Museum of Britain. It started with a collection that the British naturalist Sir Hans Sloane presented to King George II. This gift included more than 70 thousand antique exhibits, among which there were about 250 monuments, which later served as a pretext for the foundation of the Egyptian department. A few years later, the museum fund was supplemented by a collection of books donated to the country by collector and librarian James Cotton (Robert Bruce Cotton).
Secrets of the British Museum in London.
The secrets of the British Museum are connected with the history of the replenishment of the collection in the late 18th - early 19th century. Most of the exhibits ended up in the museum under very strange circumstances, they were illegally exported and taken to London. During the existence of the British colonial empire, exhibits from all territories subject to it came here, and they remain here to this day. One such item is, for example, the Rosetta Stone.
Egypt and Greece are still demanding that the UK return the exported cultural property to their homeland.
The museum collections have expanded so much that the managers had to divide them into thematic departments, among which Egyptian and numismatic stand out. It was also decided to exhibit literary values separately, in connection with this, the British Museum Library was formed. Although the Egyptian section of this museum belongs to the UK, it is one of the largest in the world in terms of the number of exhibits and contains unique items from ancient Egypt, such as several pages of the legendary Book of the Dead.
Where is the British Museum located?
The building that houses the British Museum was built by Robert Smurk in the neoclassical style. This giant mansion is located on one of the central streets of London - Great Russell Street and covers an area of more than 6 hectares.
Back in 1759 British museum received the first visitors, who were high-ranking persons and friends of the royal family. Only in 1847 the doors of the museum were opened for the first time to ordinary people. Modern tourists and residents of London have the opportunity to visit the halls of the museum for free, to observe the unique exhibits of each of the hundreds of halls. The collection of the British National Museum contains several departments: the department of prehistoric objects, the department of monuments of Roman Britain, the Ancient Egyptian department, the department of Roman and Greek art, the department of Asian antiquities.
Since the opening of the British Museum in London, the number of exhibits presented in the museum has grown many times over. To this day, the British government is buying up unique objects of not only ancient, but also modern art, daily supplementing the collection of the British Museum. Among the many museums in England British National Museum (the british museum) occupies a place of honor and for many years remains the pride of London.
The British Museum in London has one of the richest collections of objects of history and art created in different parts of the world.
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 British colonialists did not reach our 1/6 of the world) and India is poorly represented (which is not clear).
The British Museum in London seemed to me a mix of Pushkin Museum in Moscow, the Hermitage Museum and the Ethnographic Museum in St. Petersburg in various proportions. Plus Berlin. 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 exposition divided into countries-epochs: Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome. And East Asia is similar to the Moscow Museum of the Peoples of the East.
However, here I am wrong. It is the museums listed above that came out, as from Gogol's "Overcoat", from the British Museum, because it was he who was the first museum of a new type.
The British Museum was established in 1753, and opened to visitors in 1759. It was then located in the Montague House, which has not been preserved.
The museum was originally conceived as a collection of antiquities from Rome and Greece. But from the very beginning, its subject matter was much broader, since it was based on 3 collections - the doctor and naturalist Hans Sloan, Earl Robert Harley, an antiquities collector, and the library of the antiquary Robert Cotton. And so it immediately included both natural science exhibits and a large number of various books.
Since then, the museum has expanded and grown. And sometimes gave birth to other institutions of high culture. So, in 1845, the zoological, botanical, geological and mineralogical departments were separated into a separate Museum of Natural History.
And in 1973, the National Library of Great Britain was created by combining the library of the British Museum and several other libraries.
The growing collection required new premises. In 1823-47, on the site of Montagu House, the current world-famous building was built according to the project of architect Robert Smurk. It is magnificent, and in itself is a work of art.
At the end of the 20th century, on the eve of the third millennium, the building was renovated according to the project of Norman Foster. In accordance with the new trends, the space of the museum was redesigned, and the courtyard was covered with a huge glass dome.
courtyard under the dome
Where is the British Museum located and 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 the side of Montague Place (Montague Place)
The museum is open daily from 10:00 to 17:30. On Friday - until 20-30, but not all expositions.
You can get to the museum by underground, 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 London map
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 museums in the UK have stopped taking money for admission, so the British Museum is free. And it doesn’t matter if you are British or a citizen of any country in the world. And the motto of the museum is: "A museum of the whole world for the whole world." Only now the question remains: the maintenance of such a huge museum requires huge costs. Who is subsidizing it? In some places there are boxes for voluntary donations in the corners, 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 the locals. In modern times, this is considered a 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 him, calling him "an accumulation of colossal wealth plundered by England from colonial countries."
To justify the British, one can say: yes, they robbed, they did. They dragged away the marbles of the Parthenon,
and one of the caryatids
and even moai from Easter Island were taken, maybe it will come in handy.
All studied and preserved.
And before the British began to show interest in antiquities not made of precious metals and stones, were they of any value in the eyes of the natives?
And finally, which is better: to preserve historical values in the British Museum or, for example, in Syrian Palmyra or in Iraq? Where, with the help of explosives, bulldozers and sledgehammers, these objects were destroyed in front of all mankind?
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
These are ancient Chinese coins.
In addition, the huge museum has a souvenir shop, a cafe, and an educational center.
I will try to describe what I remember or are interested in.
Exhibits
First of all, we examined the section dedicated to the 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 the scenes of hunting lions, which, judging by the pictures, in those days there were a great many in Mesopotamia. The lions of the ancient artists turned out to be alive, in contrast to the rather static people.
Persian antiquities belong to a later period of history.
Nearby is a collection of ancient Egypt. From the Egyptian sculptures breathes unearthly calmness. As if they know that they have eternity ahead of them.
Although there are also very natural pictures from everyday life.
and episodes of the war
the famous image of the victory of the king of Upper Egypt over the king of Lower
It's amazing how the ancient Egyptian craftsmen achieved such perfection in working the hardest stone, because they did not even have iron tools?
For me, the exposition of Ancient Greece was the most interesting. It is in the British Museum in London that the sculptures from the friezes of the Parthenon are kept. And I dreamed of seeing them since I visited.
Also, what is left of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus is stored there (let me remind you, one of the seven wonders of the world),
the facade of the Nereid temple from Lycia (modern Türkiye) and much more.
Nereid temple facade
The skill of the ancient Hellenes is beyond praise. In my opinion, they cannot be surpassed.
Next to the Greek ones there are no less interesting Roman and Etruscan items.
roman mosaic
Etruscan statues
The collection dedicated to medieval Europe is very interesting. Especially 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 gone through an unusual historical path, and it is well represented in the exposition.
this work belongs to the pre-Japanese Jomon culture
one of the first proper Japanese works
modern Japanese bone work
old bone work
samurai weapons and armor
At the end of the 19th century, the Japanese aspired to be like Europeans and succeeded in this.
photograph of the Japanese imperial family from the late 19th century. Doesn't this remind you of anything?
It will be interesting to get acquainted with the masterpieces made by the Indians of America. Their art is original and mesmerizing.
Totem poles of the Tlingit Indians, who at one time were Russian subjects
See how perfect the Indian dragon is
and how sophisticated the sculptures made by the Maya Indians
How much humor in the products of African masters!
a white man
African
Good so-called Benin bronze (which is actually brass)
How aesthetically verified Arabic script
It is impossible to embrace the immensity and see everything. Many sites say so, choose 1-2-3 exposures. And for the whole museum you need to spend days and weeks. Nevertheless, we plucked up the audacity and ran through all the halls. Well, or almost everything, for 4 and a half hours.
And not so much tired. It turned out that, having received a Soviet education, we were brought up on the collections of the British Museum (sometimes without realizing it). From school textbooks, from articles in magazines, from the TV show "Club of Travelers" we are familiar with these objects of art.
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 need to go to the hypermarket on the next street, those who like beer go to pubs, those who prefer beach holidays have 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 must be visited.
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Which is located on Great Russell Street, in the heart of London. Still would! In one of the largest museums in the world stored exhibits, from the mere mention of which is breathtaking. The Rosetta Stone, a fragment of the legendary ancient Greek Parthenon, moai - an idol from Easter Island, the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci - all this is just a small fraction of the historical treasures that are on display. at the British Museum.
To see everything exhibits, presented in the British Museum, it will take at least a week. The collection, consisting of more than seven million exhibits, covers a gigantic stretch of world history of two million years. The oldest object on display british museum- Olduvai stone, one of the first tools invented by man. The unique ax was found in 1931 by British archaeologist Louis Leakey during his first research expedition to Tanzania.
Of course, if you are going to London for the first time, it is not possible to devote at least one day to the British Museum (unless this is the main purpose of the trip to the British capital). However, it is better to look at british museum two hours than just walking by. Even such a short time can be used rationally - you just need to prioritize in advance.
Express route. You can quickly zip through everything halls of the British Museum, stopping only near the most interesting exhibits for you. Quite a tedious scenario - after all, millions of copies are located in halls, the total length of which is approximately 4 kilometers.
Audio guide. An audio guide service in Russian is available in the main hall of the British Museum for a nominal fee of £5. The electronic guide will not only take you along the most convenient route, but will also tell you the most interesting exhibits in a fascinating way.
The most interesting exhibits of the British Museum
rosetta stone
The Rosetta Stone is one of the most famous British Museum exhibits in London. The artifact, found at the end of the 18th century, allowed Jean-Francois Champollion to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs, and now welcomes visitors to the British Museum in the first room of the Egyptian exhibition.
Mummy Katabet
The mummies of the high priestess of Amun-Ra named Katabet are about three and a half thousand years old. The body of Katabet is wrapped in cloth. On the gilded mask covering the face of the mummy, a portrait of a priestess is depicted - the artist depicted Katabet in a wig and with large round earrings. It is interesting that initially the priestess's sarcophagus was clearly intended for the burial of a man. Another amazing feature of the Katabet mummy is that the woman's brain, unlike other organs, was not taken out.
Sculptures of the Parthenon
Antique sculptures, which the English collector Lord Thomas Elgin dug out of the legendary temple in the 19th century, from time to time become a stumbling block in relations between Greece and Great Britain. No matter how Greece asks for the return of what belongs to it by right, beautiful sculptures remain in the collection to this day. London Museum.
Hoa Hakananaiya
The pearl of the British Museum collection is a Polynesian sculpture from Easter Island called Hoa-Hakananaya, which means “kidnapped friend” or “hidden friend” in Russian. Initially, the moai idol was painted white and red, but over time, the paint peeled off, revealing basalt tuff - a natural material of volcanic origin, from which the monolithic sculpture was made.
Beard of the Great Sphinx
Through the efforts of the Italian Giovanni Battista Cavigli, a fragment of the beard of the Great Sphinx is kept in the British Museum. Caviglia was the first adventurer to unearth the main attraction
Nowhere except London, there is such a huge number of attractions, museums, exhibitions, constantly attracting tourists. There are numerous tourist facilities and exhibitions of almost any orientation. They are constantly open to visitors, whose flow does not dry out over time.
The main historical and archaeological museum in Great Britain and one of the largest in the world is the British Museum in London.
It is constantly in the top lines of the ranking in terms of attendance among the museums of the world. The British Museum is located in Bloomsbury, the historic district of London.
All visitors to the British Museum can see the historical and cultural values located here free of charge. For tourists, 94 galleries are open, with a length of about 4 kilometers.
Naturally, it is impossible to get acquainted with such a number of exhibits in one or two days. Among the museum staff there are Russian-speaking guides who will help Russian tourists better understand historical facts, as well as cats.
6 cats are officially on the staff of the British Museum : they are decorated with yellow bows, behave with dignity in the halls and protect museum valuables from the invasion of rodents.
History of the Museum
Like many other collections in England, the British Museum originated from a private collection. The famous English collector of antiquities, doctor and naturalist Hans Sloan, during his lifetime, made a will, according to which, for a nominal fee, his entire collection of more than 70 thousand exhibits was transferred to King George II.
Thanks to this, the English national fund was significantly replenished. It happened in June 1753. At the same time, the antiquary James Cotton donated his library to the state, and Earl Robert Harley donated a unique collection of ancient manuscripts. The creation of a historical museum was approved by a special act of the British Parliament.
In 1759, the museum was opened to visitors in the Montagu House mansion. At first, only selected people could become visitors to the museum. For everyone, the museum was opened only in 1847, when the modern building of the museum was built.
The collection of the British Museum was constantly replenished. At the end of the 18th century, the museum acquired Greville's collection of minerals, W. Hamilton's antique vases, Townley marbles, and bought masterpieces from the Parthenon from Lord Elgin.
Some of the exhibits in the museum got almost criminally: until now, Greece and Egypt require the return of some valuable relics (for example, the Rosetta Stone - a plate with text in ancient Egyptian), exported illegally from these countries.
In the 19th century, the British Museum in London began to grow and develop rapidly. At this time, it became necessary to divide the museum into departments, some of which were moved to another place. A numismatic department appeared, where medals and coins from different countries, belonging to different eras (including ancient Greek, Persian, ancient Roman) are collected.
The geological, mineralogical, botanical and zoological departments were separated into a separate Natural History Museum, which was moved to South Kensington in 1845. From 1823 to 1847, the Montagu House was demolished, and in its place a modern building in the classicist style, created by the architect R. Smork, appeared.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the number of exhibits from the Middle East increased due to archaeological excavations in Mesopotamia. Since 1926, the museum has published its own quarterly magazine, which covers the events taking place in the museum.
At the end of the 20th century, when they were preparing for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the museum, the exhibition halls were enlarged. Under the leadership of Norman Foster, the space was replanned: new premises appeared, galleries were updated, additional territory was glazed.
Museum expositions
At first, the museum was conceived only as a collection of antiquities from Greece and Rome, but gradually exhibits of various eras from other places appeared, for which new departments were organized:
- The Greco-Roman collection in the British Museum is located in 12 rooms. It includes luxury items dating back to the time of the Roman emperors, Lycian sculptures, sculptures from the temple of Apollo in Phigalia, the remains of the temple of Diana in Ephesus, etc.
- The Oriental section of the museum presents collections of sculptures, paintings, ceramics and engravings from South and Southeast Asia. There are Indian bronze statues of Buddha, monuments of hieroglyphic writing dating back to the 2nd millennium BC, ritual vessels of Ancient China and other ancient oriental treasures.
- In the department of the Middle Ages and Modern Times, you can see works of arts and crafts from the time of early Christianity to the 19th century. There are many cult objects, dishes and jewelry made of silver, knightly armor and medieval weapons, collections of ceramic and glass products of the 18th-19th centuries, church utensils and the world's largest collection of watches.
- The collection of drawings and engravings of the British Museum in terms of artistic value and size is on a par with the famous Louvre. This section contains paintings by Botticelli , Van Dyck, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Durer, Van Gogh, Raphael and many others.
- The number of medals and coins in the numismatics department exceeds 200 thousand copies. Here are coins from the 7th century BC to modern examples, as well as coins made of precious metals. The department also contains almost all the medals dedicated to important historical events of the country, including the medals of the London 2012 Olympics.
- In the department of ethnography, one can get acquainted with objects of everyday life and culture of the peoples of Australia, Africa, Asia and Oceania, America, starting from the discovery of these lands by Columbus, Cook and other famous navigators.
- The British Museum is also the largest library in the UK, with more than 7 million volumes of various publications, about 200 thousand manuscripts in European languages, more than half a million geographical maps and almost a million copies of music. About 20 thousand technical and scientific journals are collected here. The British Museum Library has 6 reading rooms for 670 visitors.
The museum constantly conducts themed tours, and on Sundays there is a children's club "Young Friend of the British Museum", for members of which access to additional interesting expositions is open. Popular here, as well as all over the world, are held 4 times a year "Nights at the Museum". Each night is held with a specific theme, such as "Egyptian Night" or "Japanese Night".
Information for tourists
The museum is open daily, opening hours: 10-00 - 17-30. From Thursday to Friday, some departments work longer, until 20-30.
Now the museum's fund is replenished mainly through donations from patrons or collectors. Some exhibits are purchased with the money of Parliament. Entrance to the British Museum is free, but it is considered good form to leave a small donation, for which special boxes are installed in the museum.
The British Museum is huge in terms of area and number of exhibits, so you should not try to get around it in one or two days. It is better to choose one or two exhibitions that are most interesting for you and devote full time to them. Otherwise, visiting the museum will leave not positive emotions and new knowledge, but fatigue and a sore head.
This is one of the largest museums in the world, which stores works of art, Ancient Greece, Mesopotamia, Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, amazing products of European and Asian masters of the Middle Ages, collections of medals and coins, engravings, drawings, ethnographic collections. All museum collections are located in 94 galleries with a total length of more than four kilometers.
Brief historical information about the British Museum
Hans Sloan (1660-1753), the famous physician and naturalist, president of the Royal Society, is considered to be the founder of the museum's collections.
The museum building was erected over 24 years (1823-1847) according to the project of Robert Smerk in the style of English neoclassicism located on a plot of 6 hectares.
During the 2nd World War, museum exhibits were taken out, as the building was partially destroyed by air raids. Museum halls and expositions have been restored over the years.
Unique collections of the museum
Collection of Ancient Egypt. It consists of more than 66 thousand exhibits from the period of 3 thousand years BC to the 11th century BC. The richest section is devoted to the monumental sculpture of the New Kingdom. But what you should pay attention to in the museum is the granite head of Thutmes III and the sculpture of Pharaoh II.
At the very entrance in one of the halls, the Rosetta Stone (196 BC) is on public display. The text of a decree in the name of King Ptolemy V is carved on it.
The Egyptian collection also consists of papyri (about 800 documents) that introduce us to the world of literary works, theological works, religious myths and hymns, scientific treatises, historical events, personal and business correspondence and other documents. The museum also contains a set of magic spells, the so-called Book of the Dead, consisting of 180 chapters.
There are also exhibits of wooden sarcophagi (more than 100) with well-preserved mummies of sacred animals in them.
The department dedicated to the antiquities of Asia Minor consists of collections of works of the ancient peoples of the Near East (Sumer, Babylonia, Akkad, Urartu, Palestine, Ancient Iran, etc.). This department contains magnificent monumental reliefs of Assyrian art. For example, monuments depicting scenes of hunting, battles, campaigns, ritual scenes depicting a winged deity with an eagle's head, a wounded lioness, hunting for wild donkeys, a dead lion, and 250 different reliefs.
The Department of Antiquities also contains the world's largest collection of clay tablets with hieroglyphs (more than 150,000). But the pride of the whole museum is the world-famous library of King Ashurbanipal from Nineveh, with its 20 thousand tablets of various contents.
The Ancient Roman and Ancient Greek Art Collection consists of magnificent works created at the end of the Roman Empire. There are also monumental sculptures from the sanctuary of Apollo, reliefs from the tomb of Xanthus.
The collection of ancient Greek ceramics is very widely represented: the red-figure dish of Epictetus, the black-figure amphora of Exekias, the Athenian red-figure crater, the Panathenaic amphora.
Ancient Roman works of art provide all museum visitors with a unique chance to see the sculptural portraits of Emperor Augustus, the bust of Emperor Hadrian. As well as wall paintings from the Villa Boscoreale, the mosaic floor of a Roman house from Herculaneum or Pompeii.
Looking into the prehistoric antiquities department of Roman Britain, you will be surprised by the primitive tools on display, bronze vessels, a bronze mirror from Desborough, a two-horned helmet, a unique 34-piece silver hoard from Mildenhall, as well as formidable military armor.
The department of numismatics will acquaint everyone with the first coins up to the present day. There are also Greek electrum coins, and a series of medals dedicated to the events of historical England, and other famous personalities.
The department of drawings and engravings, in its size and value, occupies a place next to the collections of the Louvre. All artistic splendor is collected here: the Holy Family (Michelangelo), the Arc de Triomphe (Dürer), Abundance (Sandro Botticelli); drawings and sketches by artists of the 15th-20th centuries. - Michelangelo Buonarroti, Raphael Santi, Peter Paul Robens, John Constable, Antoine Watteau, Rembrandt Van Rijn, Vincent Van Gogh and many other famous European artists.
The museum always has guides who speak Russian.
The museum is open daily from 10.00 to 17.00. Entrance is absolutely free!
The museum can be reached by metro: Tottenham Court Road (500m); Russell Square (800m); Holborn (500m); Goodge Street (800m).
By Bus: Stop at New Oxford Street, route no. 1,7,8,19,25,38,55,98,242;
Stop at Southampton Row, route number 59,68,91,168,188.
