Top 10 Facts about the British Museum

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Top 10 Facts about the British Museum

The British Museum is one of the most famous museums in the world.

It houses over 8 million interesting artefacts. This collection spans more than 2 million years of human history.

A trip to London is not complete without a visit to the British Museum.

This museum is a treasure trove for those interested in the history of humankind.

It was founded by Sir Hans Sloane in 1753 who filled it much of his own collection.

The museum first opened its doors in 1759 in Montague House, it has been in existence for more than 256 years.

Here are the top 10 facts about the British Museum.

1. One of the largest and best museums

The British Museum has a permanent collection of more than 8 million artefacts.

This is among the largest and most wide-ranging collection. The collection is from all continents.

It illustrates and documents the tale of human culture from its initial stages to the present.

The museum is in the Bloomsbury area of London and is devoted to rich human history, culture, and art.

This is one of the most visited museums in Britain. Some of the artefacts in the museum include fossils, paintings, as well as several European exhibitions.

2. The most popular exhibit at the British Museum is the Rosetta

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Napoleon Bonaparte found the Rosetta during his Egyptian campaign in 1799.

The black basalt slab was inscribed with three different languages, they found it in a town called Rosetta near Alexandria.

The ancient hieroglyphics were carved on it and its discovery led to the translation of Ancient Egyptian writing.

Before its discovery, the Ancient Egyptian language and script had not been translated since before the fall of the Roman Empire.

This stone is one of the most important objects in the British Museum.

The inscription on the Rosetta Stone a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V.

The Stone has been exhibited in the British Museum since 1802.

3. Parthenon marble is on display in the Museum

The Parthenon marbles also known as Elgin marble are a collection of medieval Greek sculptures.

They were taken from Greece by the Earl of Elgin in the 1800s. he took them from the Parthenon Temple in Athens.

The section of the museum hosting the Parthenon marbles was opened in 1939.

It was called the Parthenon galleries and was designed by John Russel Pope.

The building was damaged during the Second World War and was renovated then reopened in 1962.

These marbles were dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena.

4. The Oxus treasures is another must-see in the British museum

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This is a selection of metalwork that was found by the Oxus River between 1877 and 1880.

The collection is made up of about 180 ancient pieces made in gold and silver, as well as 200 coins.

This collection is believed to be from the Achaemenid Persian period.

The collection is made up of smaller pieces.

5. It all started in Montague House

When the British Museum first opened its doors in 1759, it was located in Montague House.

This house was a 17th-century mansion that was built on the site of the current museum.

Most of the collection that was first exhibited in the museum were from Sir Hans Sloane, an Irish physician and scientist.

There were 71,000 objects made up of antiquities, national specimens and books.

The expansion of the museum over the following 250 years was as a result of the expanding British colonisation.

More artefacts were brought in from the colonies leading to the creation of several branch institutions.

The first branch to be opened was the Natural History Museum in 1881.

6. It is a controversial museum because of the artefacts

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The Rosetta Stone and Parthenon Marbles are some of the controversial exhibits at the museum.

Most of the objects, paintings and sculptures found in the British Museum are not from Britain.

These items were collected during the expansion of the British empire in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Several governments such as Greece have made requests to Britain to have their Parthenon marbles back.

The British government has refused to state that the museum is the rightful custodian of the antiquities.

Instead, the museum gives its pieces out on loan, sometimes even to the countries that the pieces came from originally.

7. The enlightenment gallery is beautiful

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This section of the museum is dedicated to the 18th-century Enlightenment era.

The room was once known as the King’s Library and was built between 1823 and 1827.

There are about 60,000 books collected by King George III on display.

Some of the books can be found in the British Library.

Other remarkable objects and curiosities found in this section of the museum are the fossils of one of the first dinosaurs ever found.

The Ichthyosaur was part of Sir Hans Sloane collection.

8. Part of the artefacts in the museum came to life

This may seem surreal and you may think they only happen in movies.

The incident happened when a snail that was donated to the museum in 1846 came to life.

It had been on display for about four years before anyone noticed it was alive.

A zoologist, William Baird, discovered strange mucus produced by the snail to keep it from drying out.

The museum management moved it to more favourable conditions. It died, for real this time, six years later.

9. The museum has been featured in several films

Most people have seen and almost felt like they have been to the British Museum.

This is through the several movies that the museum has featured in.

The first movie that featured the museum was The Wakefield Cause, in 1921.

Another film was Blackmail, by Alfred Hitchcock.

The most recent film that had scenes shot in the museum was the blockbuster Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb released in 2014.

10. Other museums came up from the British Museum in London

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The British Museum has several other branches spread out in London.

One of them is the Natural History Museum, it used to be part of the British Museum.

The other one is the British Library that was also originally part of the Museum but became independent in 1973.