General Information

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture. Its permanent collection, numbering some eight million works, is amongst the finest, most comprehensive, and largest in existence and originates from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present.

History: Highlights

The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane, and opened to the public in 1759. Its impressive growth over the years was a result of an expanding British colonial footprint, hence some items in the collection are the objects of intense controversy.

Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan: Highlights

The British Museum houses the world’s second largest and most comprehensive collection of Egyptian antiquities. It consists of over 100,000 pieces and includes objects of all periods that illustrate every aspect of the cultures of the Nile Valley, from the Predynastic Neolithic period, through to the Coptic times, a time-span over 11,000 years.

Department of Greece and Rome: Highlights

The museum’s collection of antiquities from the Classical world consists of over 100,000 objects, including elements of two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The collection also covers the Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean cultures, as well as Italic and Etruscan antiquities.

Department of the Middle East: Highlights

With some 330,000 works, the museum owns the world’s largest collection of Mesopotamian antiquities outside Iraq, from the prehistoric period until the beginning of Islam in the 7th century. The collection includes entire suites of rooms panelled in alabaster bas-reliefs from important sites between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris.

Department of Prints and Drawings: Highlights

This collection is considered one of the richest in the world. There are approximately 50,000 drawings and over two million prints, from the 14th century to the present. The museum owns drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Dürer, Rubens, Rembrandt and Watteau, and comprehensive collections of prints by Dürer, Rembrandt and Goya.

Department of Prehistory and Europe: Highlights

This department houses varied collections that cover the art and archaeology of Europe from the earliest times to the present day, including some of the earliest objects made by humans 2 million years ago. It also comprises the national collection of horology.

Department of Asia: Highlights

With collections numbering over 75,000 objects, the department covers the material culture of the whole Asian continent, from the Neolithic up to the present day.

Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas: Highlights

The collections of this department consists of over 350,000 objects and represent the cultures of indigenous peoples of Africa, Oceania and the Americas.

Department of Coins and Medals: Highlights

The museum’s numismatic collection comprises about a million objects and is considered among the finest in the world. The collection spans the entire history of coinage from its origins in the 7th century BC to the present day. There are approximately 9,000 coins, medals and banknotes on display around the British Museum.

Department of Conservation and Scientific Research: Highlights

The scientific branch of this department gathers and perfects data about atefacts and exhibits in the museum’s collections, while conservation has six specialist areas: ceramics and glass; metals; organic material; stone, wall paintings and mosaics; Eastern pictorial art and Western pictorial art. The department also publishes its findings.

Libraries and Archives: Highlights

This department oversees the general archives of the British Museum and is responsible for all its educational activities. It also oversees the museum’s various libraries, which hold over 350,000 books, journals and pamphlets covering all areas of the collection. The Anthropology Library is especially large, with 120,000 volumes.