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The British Museum
British Music Experience
PLEASE NOTE: Admission Prices are for one adult at time of listing.
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The British Museum F; S; C/SO
A vast collection of world art and artefacts,
The Museum’s beginnings lie with the prolific collector and physician to royalty Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) – after whom Sloane Square is named. His collection was bequeathed to George II for the nation, and under the auspices of the state an Act of Parliament created the British Museum in 1753. It was opened to the public in 1759 with a principle of free admission to all.
The original building, Montagu House, was designed by the scientist, naturalist and architect Robert Hooke and built around 1676, but was damaged by fire only ten years later. Redesigned by Puget, the building was acquired for the museum, but quickly proved too small to house the expanding collections. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century the building has been repeatedly extended to accommodate today’s seven million objects.
One of the most famous objects in the collection is the Rosetta Stone. In 1799, some Napoleonic soldiers digging out the foundation for an extension to a fort near el-Rashid (Rosetta), about forty miles North-East of Alexandria in Egypt, turned up a slab of black basalt with markings. With the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801, it was among antiquities ceded to the British, and was on display at the British Museum by 1802.
Although many fragments of Egyptian hieroglyphics had been found before this, they were not understood, as the hieroglyphic system had fallen out of use completely by the fifth century AD. The Rosetta Stone was discovered to contain a decree written three times – in demotic inscription (colloquial) and Greek in addition to its Egyptian hieroglyphics, thus providing the key to interpreting the ancient Egyptian markings. The decree itself was made by the council of priests of Ptolemy V in 196 BC, marking the first anniversary of the thirteen-year-old’s coronation.
The Museum has many ancient Egyptian artefacts, from statuary to jewellery and of course, mummies, giving an insight into over three thousand years of Pharaonic civilisation. Other collections are from ancient Greece and Rome, from the ‘Aztec’ or Mexican and Mayan civilisations of the Americas, also ancient Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
In 2000 the impressive ‘ Great Court opened in 2000. The court is Europe’s largest covered square and patronised by some of the museum’s most famous exhibits. It also includes the museums original ‘Reading Room’ ( restored to original form) that was once frequented by Lenin and Marx amongst others.
Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG
Tel: 0207 323 8299
British Music Experience H; S, Ind
The British Music Experience is Britain’s first an interactive music museum and it is dedicated to popular music spanning the last six decades. Amongst the artist featured are Coldplay,, Stone Roses, Elton John, The Smiths, Dusty Springfield, T.Rex, The Damnded, The Specials, Paul Weller, Saxon, Blur, Motorhead, Sandie Shaw, Jimi Hendrix, Leona Lewis, The Who, Radiohead. Click the website link below and take a virtual tour to find out more.
02 Bubbleomerset House
Peninsula Square
London SE 10 ODX
Tel uk : 0844 856 0202 From Elsewhere +44 161 385 3211
