1 British Museum
The British Museum holds what is probably the greatest collection of antiquities in the world, and is also the country’s most visited cultural attraction.
The British Museum holds what is probably the greatest collection of antiquities in the world, and is also the country’s most visited cultural attraction.
Founded in 1753 from the collection of Sir Hans Sloane, the BM (as it is known to its regulars) has occupied its present site since 1852. The world’s oldest museum has 4km (2.5 miles) of galleries displaying objects representing almost every aspect of international cultural history. The glass-roofed Great Court, designed by Sir Norman Foster and opened to the public in December 2000, is now Europe’s largest covered square.
The following are just a few of the BM’s greatest and most popular treasures. Pick up a floor plan to locate them: starting on the ground floor, the sculptures from the Parthenon (the Elgin Marbles) are widely held to be the greatest works of their kind from ancient Greece. The adjacent Nereid Monument, from Xanthos, Turkey, is a striking reconstructed temple. For more breathtaking sculptures on a monumental scale see the Assyrian human-headed winged bulls of Khorsabad. The museum boasts the greatest collection of Egyptology outside Cairo, including the famous Rosetta Stone, which enabled scholars to decipher the meaning of hieroglyphics. Just as memorable and equally worthwhile are the Oriental Collection (particularly the Indian sculptures) and the Mexican Gallery, both of which contain outstandingly beautiful works of art.
On the upper floor follow the crowds to the macabre Egyptian mummies and the preserved un-mummified body of ‘Ginger’. In the Prehistoric and Romano-British sections, highlights include Lindow Man, the Sutton Hoo Treasure, the Mildenhall Treasure and the Lewis Chessmen. The Clocks and Watches collection is one of the finest in the world. Be there on the hour when the clocks chime in unison. Easily overlooked among the antiquities from Greece and Rome is the Portland Vase, a 2,000-year-old glass vessel.
Map Reference 15L 
Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury 
020 7323 8000 
Main museum Sat–Wed 10–5:30, Thu, Fri 10–8:30; Great Court Mon–Wed, Sun 9–6, Thu–Sat 9am–11pm. Reading Room: daily 10–5:30. Closed 24–26 Dec, 1 Jan, Good Fri 
Free 
Café (£), restaurant (££) 
Holborn, Tottenham Court Road, Russell Square 
New Oxford Street 1, 7, 8, 19, 25, 38, 55, 98, 242; Tottenham Court Road northbound and Gower Street southbound 10, 14, 24, 29, 73, 134, 390; Southampton Row 59, 68, 91, 168, 188