British Museum (London)

...I decided to visit the British Museum – despite having visited numerous museums throughout Britain, strangely enough this was one place I had never been to. Opened to the public in 1759, today the British Museum has an attendance of over 5 million visitors a year.

Getting there was easy – the British museum is located in Bloomsbury, in Great Russell Street to be precise, and the nearest tube station is Tottenham Court Road, ...
...over have heard of the British Museum; its huge number of artefacts (over 6 million!) cover all periods, from the earliest civilisations, right up until the present day. Obviously, because there is so much to see here, I’m not going to go into detail about everything that the museum has to offer, but rather highlight the sections that I enjoyed the most, and provide some more general information. If you’re a first time visitor, with no ... more

Whilst down south staying with my parents, my Dad and I decided to visit the British Museum – despite having visited numerous museums throughout Britain, strangely enough this was one place I had never been to. Opened to the public in 1759, today the British Museum has an attendance of over 5 million visitors a year.

Getting there was easy – the British museum is located in Bloomsbury, in Great Russell Street to be precise, and the nearest tube station is Tottenham Court Road, which can be accessed from both the central and the northern line. It’s then only a couple of minutes walk to the main entrance of the museum, and it is well signposted, so even if you’re hopeless when it comes to navigation, you can’t get too lost! Entrance is free, which is really useful, especially if you have only a short time to spare, as I hate paying a big entrance fee if I’m not anticipating spending long in a place. They do however ask for a donation, with a suggested amount of £3, but that’s up to you. My Dad put in some money for both of us, since we thoroughly enjoyed our time here, and felt it was well worth it. At the entrance, there’s also a cloakroom, which saves you carrying round heavy bags or coats, although it won’t accept large rucksacks.

People the world over have heard of the British Museum; its huge number of artefacts (over 6 million!) cover all periods, from the earliest civilisations, right up until the present day. Obviously, because there is so much to see here, I’m not going to go into detail about everything that the museum has to offer, but rather highlight the sections that I enjoyed the most, and provide some more general information. If you’re a first time visitor, with no particular sections that you plan to visit, then I recommend that you purchase the visit guide, which costs £2.50, and which will direct you to some of the world famous items which are in here, providing you with several mini tours to follow. It’s also got useful maps and information about the museum, as well as some colour pictures, making it a worthwhile souvenir of your visit too. There is another guidebook available, which had fantastic colour pictures of some of the artefacts, but that was £6, which I felt was rather expensive.

Being the sort of person who likes to plan ahead, I had done some advance research on the net before my visit, and had already decided which particular collections were going to be of interest to me. So the first place we set off for was the Egyptian collections. At first, I found the directions in the museum rather confusing. Although each room was numbered, locating them could sometimes prove to be tricky, as there were different south, north, east, west staircases. However, there were a few members of staff around who could point you in the right direction if you did get lost.

The British museum is a very traditional museum, so expect to see lots of glass cases with information boards beside them. Not something that appeals to everyone, but I personally enjoyed it more than some of the more popular ‘theme’ museums, since it stimulated my imagination and sense of historical awareness in a different way – engaging the brain a bit more than some of the more modern museums. The information presented was accessible to most people, though possibly children would need some explanations given to them. I think however that there is a special children’s guidebook available.

The Egyptian section was fantastic – the collection of mummies, funerary artefacts, amulets, and carvings was incredible. The colours of some of them were so vivid it was impossible to believe that they were thousands of years old. Last summer I was involved in an Egyptian exhibition at the museum where I work, and had helped children to make a simple hieroglyphics alphabet, and I found it fascinating to see the real hieroglyphics for myself. These objects have been so well preserved, the conservation work has obviously been very thorough. Not surprisingly, these rooms were very busy – one of the few disadvantages of the museum. I’m not too keen on crowds, but in a museum as world famous as this one, it is something that cannot be avoided. Another small criticism is that (and this may just be me being thick), I was unable to detect any chronological sequence to this display, which led to some confusion. The Rosetta stone, for example, was in a completely different room to the rest of the Egyptian artefacts (although this may be because it was larger than the other items and so needed to be kept on the main floor). Still, that was only a minor criticism, since the chance to actually see the inscriptions on this stone, which enabled people to decipher hieroglyphics, more than made up for this. The Egyptian collections here are second only to those in the museum in Cairo, so a definite visit for anyone interested in this period.

Other key collections are some of the treasures found in Britain, including the Sutton Hoo burial, the Lewis chessmen, and items found in Viking hoards. I only wished I had discovered these collections whilst I was studying some medieval history courses! If you are a student, then seeing some of these artefacts really will help the period to come to life a bit more, no amount of images in books can compare to seeing the real thing. The Tudor section, though only small, had a number of items from the period, including the Thomas More jewels – anyone that’s a frequent reader of my ops will know that I have spent the last year studying Thomas More.

The Greek and Roman periods are also well represented, with particular noteworthy jewellery and bronzes, and sculpture, from the Greek period, including the Parthenon Sculptures, which are also known as the Elgin Marbles. When I was younger, I always used to imagine the Elgin Marbles as big round balls, large versions of the marbles I used to play in the playground, it came as quite a shock to discover one day that they were completely different!

Other periods and regions covered here include Japan, Africa and the Americas, the Ancient Near East, Europe, and Asia, but as we spent several hours in the Egyptian exhibition alone, there was no way we were going to make it round the whole museum. After a while, you do tend to get “artefact overload”, there is only a certain amount of information that the brain can take in! It’s probably best I think to do as I did, and choose a couple of areas to visit first, rather than attempting to see everything.

Two other rooms worth mentioning, are the Money Gallery, sponsored by HSBC, containing the world’s most important collection of coins and money, and the collection of clocks. The history of clockwork is explained, with about 30 clocks from different periods on display, some of which were very detailed and ornate, and there were some unusual examples here too. Even though I have never had an interest in clocks, I still found this a very interesting room to visit. The clocks are out of the more usual glass cases, so you can get a proper look at them.

The newest area in the museum is of course the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, which covers an area as large as a football pitch. It is very light, with a domed glass roof, but to be honest, the inside of it was very reminiscent of a railway station, with the exception of the middle, which is where the new Reading Room is housed. All visitors can access this, no special tickets are needed if you just want to have a look round, and the restoration of the original 19th century architecture is well worth a look. The rest of the Great Court contains shops and cafes. There are typical gift shops, a children’s shop, and my favourite, a fantastic book shop, with a vast selection of history books, much better than the range in somewhere such as Waterstones for example. If you’re hungry, then you might be tempted to try the cafes, but be warned, they are very expensive indeed (catering is done by a firm called Digby and Trout – just the name sounds posh!). A more sensible idea would probably be to take a picnic in the summer.

Finally, I will just mention the guided tours available. I didn’t try these, since I prefer to look round at my own pace, but there are several different tours available for the general public. These are:
Highlights’ Tours – giving brief introductions to the most famous items on display, lasting 90 minutes, and costing £7
Focus Tours – 60 minute tours of a smaller number of well known items, costing £5
EyeOpener Tours – free, 50 minute tours, available in a small number of rooms, including Ancient Egypt, the Americas, Asia, and The Classical World.
Audio Tours – you can also hire a CD for £2.50, which will give you your own private tour, of 50 key objects.

Overall then, I really enjoyed my visit here. The collections are enormous, covering all periods of history, so anyone with an interest in either history or archaeology will love it here. It is a very traditional museum, and may get a little tedious for young children, but I personally found the artefacts, and the information about them, very impressive, and would love to make a return visit, since it’s impossible to see everything in just one day. At the end of the day my brain was somewhat overloaded and my feet were sore, but I felt that I had learnt an awful lot, and having sore feet was a small price to pay for being so close to so many world famous artefacts!

Essential Information:
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Opening hours:
Saturday-Wednesday 10:00-17:30
Thursday-Friday 10.00-20:30

Price:
FREE but donations requested

Address:
Great Russell Street
London
WC1B 3DG

Phone:
020 7323 8000

Website:
www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
 

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