British Museum

British Museum, national museum of antiquities and, until 1973, the national library of Great Britain, located in Bloomsbury, central London. The British Museum was founded in 1753, incorporating the collection of the British physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane; the Harleian Collection, formed by the statesman Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford; and the Cottonian Library, organized by the antiquarian Sir Robert Cotton. In 1852 the building in Great Russell Street, designed by Robert Smirke, was completed. It now houses eight departments of antiquities. The British Library, formerly housed in the British Museum, opened in its new building in St Pancras in 1997. The former premises of the library, including the celebrated Round Reading Room, completed in 1857 and designed by Smirke and Antonio Panizzi, are now in the hands of the British Museum. In December 2000 the glass-covered Great Court was opened.

The Department of Prehistory and Europe houses items from prehistoric Africa and Asia as well as works of art and archaeological exhibits from prehistoric Europe to the medieval periods and the Renaissance, and up to the 20th century.

The Department of Coins and Medals embraces all cultures and periods, including Greek, Roman, and Oriental specimens, and the Royal Collection presented by George IV.

The Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, housing one of the world's most extensive collections devoted to the cultures of the Nile Valley, is particularly noted for the Rosetta Stone and for its large holdings of papyri, mummies, and mummy cases.

The Department of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas comprises objects from indigenous peoples throughout the world. Between 1970 and 1997 many of these objects were on exhibition at the Museum of Mankind, in Burlington Gardens, and have now returned to Bloomsbury. The department includes the Sainsbury African Galleries, which hold over 200,000 works of art and artefacts.

The Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities contains many famous works of art. Among them are the Roman glass vessel of the 1st century ad, known as the Portland Vase; the frieze of the temple of Apollo at Bassae in Greece; the Elgin Marbles; and sculptures from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus in Turkey.

The Department of Asia houses collections of art and archaeology from across Asia and the Islamic world. Important collections include Chinese ceramics, Indian sculpture, Islamic artwork, and decorative graphic arts and paintings from Japan, shown in a series of changing displays in a suite of specially designed galleries. The important collection of Ukiyo-E prints has been supplemented by a collection of modern prints. One of the galleries contains a tea house in which the tea ceremony is sometimes performed.

The Department of Prints and Drawings contains a major collection of European graphic art from the late Middle Ages to the present.

The Department of the Ancient Near East exhibits Anatolian, Arabian, Mesopotamian, Palestinian, Syrian, Transcaucasian, and related artefacts, from before 5000 bc to the advent of Islam in the 7th century ad. The collection includes much material excavated at the ancient city of Ur by the English archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley.

Other departmental divisions of the museum are the Department of Conservation, Documentation, and Science; and the Learning and Information Department. The museum also publishes numerous catalogues and handbooks on the collections.