The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. It was established in 1753 and now there are stored over 8 million artifacts, sculptures and other objects from the entire history of humankind. This museum is one of the biggest in the world with over 70 galleries.
Some facts:
- The general admission is free. However bear on mind that if you’d like to visit some special exhibitions, you will pay some fee. Visit the official site to see the pricing.
- The area is 75 000m2 big.
- The British museum was established 269 years ago.
- Many objects are stored outside the museum because there is not enough space inside.
How to get to the British Museum?
You can get here either by bus or the underground. When I went there I used the underground, the nearest underground station is Tottenham Court Road and then it’s about 5 minutes by walk.
Inside the museum
After you get in, you will se a huge room so-called The Great Court. This room is basically located in the middle of the museum so from here you have the access to all other exhibition rooms. And after passing through an exhibition room, you will come back here. In The Great Court you can also buy some souvenir or a book from the Museum shops. Or you can just sit down and relax with a cup of coffee or tea.
Exhibition rooms are organized by geography, history and theme. Most of them are on the ground floor, but for example the African exhibition is located on the lower floor, whereas the Japanese gallery can be found on the top floor. Let’s look where you can find other exhibitions:
Ground floor
- Ancient Greece and Rome – more “Greece” focused
- Ancient Egypt – Egyptian sculptures including the famous statue of Ramesses II.
- Americas – North America and Mexico
- Asia – China and Korea
- Middle East – Assyria
- Themes – the Age of Enlightenment, Living and Dying gallery (Oceania), The Waddesdon Bequest gallery
Upper floors
- Ancient Greece and Rome (level 3) – more “Rome” focused
- Ancient Egypt (level 3) – Early Egypt, Sudan, Nubia, Ethiopia, Egyptian life and Death
- Asia (levels 4 and 5) – Japan
- Middle East (level 3) – The Islamic world, Mesopotamia, Ancient Iran, South Arabia and Levant
- Themes (level 3) – Clocks and watches
- Europe (level 3) – basically the whole history of Europe and Britain + history of Middle East 10 000 – 800 BC
Lower floor
- Africa – history of Africa
Interesting things to see
Personal recommendations based on my experience
- Go here few minutes before opening time. I came a bit later and I had to wait about 15 minutes in the queue. It’s because they are checking people and their bags before letting them in.
- It takes a lot of time to go through all the exhibitions, because the museum is really huge. You will probably spend a whole day here. I wouldn’t recommend going here if you don’t have much time.
- Don’t rush. Take your time and enjoy learning more about the history of humanity. Spend your time wherever you want for how long you want.
- Every time you visit the British museum, you will discover something new. If you didn’t go to all exhibitions in one day, come back sometime later.
- If there is a special exhibition or an event for an additional fee and you are really interested in it, go for it. The money is worth the visit. You will get to know a lot of new information about the era the exhibition is about. I went to a special exhibition about Egyptian hieroglyphs. Apart from seeing the Rosetta Stone, I’ve collected a lot of new information about the Egyptian language and how it was deciphered!
