The British Museum and its stone, glass and stories in Bloomsbury

The British Museum in London stands on Great Russell Street in Bloomsbury as a museum of human history, art and culture housed in a nineteenth-century Greek Revival building and centred on a vast glass-roofed courtyard. Founded in 1753 and opened to the public in 1759, it has grown into an institution whose collections cover around two million years of human history.

Greek Revival stone on Great Russell Street

The British Museum occupies a large stone complex fronting Great Russell Street in the Bloomsbury district of central London, within the borough of Camden. Its main building dates from the nineteenth century and was designed by architect Sir Robert Smirke in a Greek Revival style that draws on classical temple forms.Greek Revival style building Smirke set out long wings organised around internal courtyards, with a principal south entrance that faces Great Russell Street.

The south front is marked by a broad colonnaded façade and a portico with a pediment, giving the museum a recognisably classical profile against the surrounding streets.The main façade with Greek-inspired columns Behind this frontage, Smirke’s stone structure encloses a series of galleries and courts, built in stages through the first half of the nineteenth century and completed in 1852.

From Montagu House to a national museum

The origins of The British Museum lie in the collections of the physician and collector Sir Hans Sloane, whose bequest led Parliament to create a public institution in 1753 for books, manuscripts and artefacts.Founded in 1753 by Act of Parliament The museum opened under its own name in 1759 in Montagu House, a seventeenth-century mansion on Great Russell Street that was adapted to hold early displays and library rooms.Montagu House as first home

Through the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the collection expanded with royal libraries, archaeological finds and material from many regions, prompting the replacement of Montagu House by Smirke’s larger stone complex. Over more than two centuries the museum’s holdings have grown to around eight million objects, covering about two million years of human history from many cultures and periods.Collections spanning two million years Books and manuscripts, ancient sculpture, coins, textiles and everyday artefacts share the same institution, reflecting the broad scope set at its foundation.

The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court and Reading Room

At the centre of the British Museum lies the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, a large internal courtyard enclosed beneath a glass and steel roof and opened to visitors in 2000.Great Court gallery facts Designed by Foster and Partners, this two-acre space is described as the largest covered public square in Europe and surrounds the original British Museum Reading Room at its heart.Queen Elizabeth II Great Court

The Reading Room itself was designed in the nineteenth century by architect Sydney Smirke and occupies the circular centre of the courtyard as a distinct structure.Sydney Smirke’s Reading Room Once the main reading room of the British Library, it retains its prominent position and historical character within the Great Court, which also contains sculptures introducing cultures represented in the museum’s surrounding galleries.

Visiting The British Museum: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• The British Museum stands on Great Russell Street in the Bloomsbury district of central London, within the borough of Camden, a short walk from Russell Square Underground station.
• The museum’s principal entrance is reached from street level by a flight of exterior steps, and interior routes between galleries include staircases and escalators as well as lifts.
• The Great Court forms a central orientation space under a glass roof, with stone paving and wide circulation areas linking galleries arranged on multiple levels around the courtyard.
• The official language is English and the currency is the pound sterling.

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Frequently asked questions about The British Museum

Where is The British Museum located in London?

The British Museum is in the Bloomsbury district of central London, on Great Russell Street within the borough of Camden, close to Russell Square Gardens.

What can visitors expect on a visit to The British Museum?

Visitors encounter galleries arranged around the glass-roofed Great Court, with collections ranging from ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome to Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe.

What makes The British Museum distinctive among museums?

The combination of its Greek Revival architecture by Sir Robert Smirke, the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court and collections spanning around two million years of human history gives the museum a layered character.