British Museum, National museum in Bloomsbury, London, United Kingdom.
The British Museum is a national museum in Bloomsbury, London, United Kingdom, holding several million historical objects from around the world. The collections span numerous galleries within a large neoclassical building whose front is lined with columns and whose layout centers on an indoor courtyard covered by a glass roof.
The institution opened to the public in 1759, built on the collection of Sir Hans Sloane that had been bequeathed to the state. Over the following centuries, the building was expanded and reshaped to accommodate a growing inventory fed by donations and acquisitions from many countries.
The museum's name comes from its founding as a national collection belonging to neither church nor king, the first of its kind. Its 1753 core was Sir Hans Sloane's 71,000 objects, joined by the Cottonian and Harleian libraries and, in 1757, the Old Royal Library. The Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving manuscript of Beowulf are among the treasures from these foundation collections.
Admission is free every day, though some temporary exhibitions may charge a fee. The building has lifts, ramps, and accessible restrooms for wheelchair users, and audio guides and maps are available at the entrance to help orient yourself among the galleries.
The circular drum at the centre of the Great Court is the Reading Room, where the British Library was housed until 1997. Its curved wall carries tall arched windows, and during exhibitions banners hang between them, such as those for the Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery and the Islamic World Gallery.
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