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Aug 24, 2020 · 14 things not to miss at the British Museum. Share the page. Publication date: 24 August 2020. From the Rosetta Stone to Grayson Perry's The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, there's so much to see – don't miss these highlights.
- Egyptian Gallery
- Assyrian Gallery
- Parthenon Gallery
- Living and Dying Gallery
- Mexican Gallery
- Europe and Britain Gallery
- Enlightenment Gallery
Ground floor, Room 4, Upper floor 61-64
The Egyptian Galleries have much to offer from Ancient Egypt, with the ground floor being full of large monuments. The first and probably the most famous object is the Rosetta Stone. Make sure you get close to the glass case so you can examine the fascinating details of three identical scripts in two languages. The 3 scripts are hieroglyphics (Ancient Egyptian Language), Demotic (a simpler version of hieroglyphics, also Ancient Egyptian), and finally Ancient Greek. It was a huge breakthrough...
Upper floor, Rooms 61 – 64
Here you can find a collection of both human mummies and animal mummies. Did you know the Egyptians were known for mummifying animals? This was usually for one of 2 reasons: either as offerings to the gods or to provide the animals with an afterlife. You’ll find cats, crocodiles, snakes, fish, monkeys, and much more on display. Human mummification was only common practice among Royalty, nobility, and the wealthy, primarily because the whole process was very expensive. There are several mummie...
Ground floor, Room 10
The British Museum has some impressive artefacts from Assyria, Mesopotamia. When entering the exhibition you are greeted by two winged bulls of Korshabad, who once stood guard over an ancient city ruled by the last great Assyrian king. If we peer in between the legs of the great winged bulls we can see a carving that resembles a board game, it is exactly that, a game for those who were bored! A Game of Ur was a royal game, which became a popular board game in ancient Assyria. The game was pla...
Ground floor, Room 18a, 18b, 18
This room transports you to ancient Greek civilization, where you find yourself surrounded by artefacts from the famous Parthenon in Athens. What started as a temple was turned into a Christian church and also a Muslim mosque. The Parthenon was later badly damaged during a gun powder explosion. The subsequent removal of the statues and frieze from Athens, by Lord Elgin (British Ambassador), is still today surrounded by controversy. Other parts of the Parthenon Sculptures can be seen in the Ac...
Ground floor, Room 24
This gallery deals with life and death and how different cultures deal with staying healthy. Our favourite display is the large glass case in the middle of the room. On closer inspection you’ll recognise many pills and medicines; the display shows how much an average British person will consume during their life! The next most obvious object is a Moai, which originally stood in the Orongo stone village. The statue was surrounded by its companions, all stood with their backs to the sea, watchi...
Ground floor, Room 27
This gallery represents the two main cultures, Maya and Aztec, that once occupied the area we now know as Mexico. The gallery is filled with sculptures, mosaics, and ceramics from ancient Mexico, but your eyes will be immediately drawn to a glass case that contains several turquoise figurines. The most famous of these figurines is a double-headed serpent, made from cedar wood and richly decorated with turquoise, coral, and shell. This item is believed to have been ceremonial, it would’ve been...
Upper floor, Room 49 and Room 41
Frequently, when we refer to ancient civilisations, we are in awe of how much they accomplished and how artistic they were. Britain and Europe are often overlooked in comparison, but the European continent has much to offer, even if the artefacts are slightly more “modern” than those from the old world. A great example is the Roman Empire, which at one point stretched all the way to the British Isles. There are various artefacts found across the country linked with the Romans, including jewel...
Ground floor, Room 1
Our final gallery in this British Museum highlights guide takes you back in time, to the 18th century to be precise. It was an age of enlightenment, an era when the British Empire gained wealth mostly from its colonies. Many scholars tried to learn about human history through various ancient objects. A European perspective affected most of these views, so some ideas are being redeveloped in current times. This gallery also shows the original organisation of the British Museum when it first op...
- Rosetta Stone. Location: Room 4 Ground Floor. Appearing on all British Museum top 10 lists, The Rosetta Stone should be your first stop when visiting the museum.
- Parthenon Marbles. Location: Room 18 Ground Floor. The classical Greek sculptures on display at the British Museum were originally part of the Parthenon – a 2,500 year old temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, in Greece.
- Sutton Hoo mask and ship burial collection. Location: Room 41 Upper Floor. Discovered in 1939, the Anglo-Saxon artefacts discovered at Sutton Hoo are perhaps the most important archaeological discoveries ever made in Britain.
- Egyptian mummies. Location: Rooms 62-63 Upper Floor. Some of the most popular galleries at the British Museum are dedicated to Ancient Egypt. The museum has a collection of over 140 mummies and coffins of which only a small number are on display due to space and preservation restrictions.
Collection highlights. Explore the Museum's collection and journey through two million years of human history.
- The Tara Sculpture – Room 33. Walk to the back of the gallery and admire the stunning solid bronze statue of the Mahayana Buddhist deity Tara. She was originally cast in 8 century Sri Lanka and then coated in gold, and we think the only reason she survived the millennia, we think, is because she was buried.
- Hoa Hakananai'a – Room 15. Enter this innovative gallery and admire the different cases – but we’re here to see Hoa Hakananai'a. This monolith comes from the isolated Polynesian island of Rapa Nui.
- The Ife Head – Room 25. Next, head downstairs to the Africa Galleries to see the Ife Head. This is one of 18 heads excavated in Ife, Nigeria, in 1938 by a team led by German archaeologist Leo Frobenius.
- Totem Poles - The Great Court. Head back upstairs and be prepared for a truly marvellous site - the Great Court, which is the largest covered public square in Europe.
Dec 21, 2020 · Some of the highlights include the Egyptian sculpture gallery, where you'll find the Rosetta Stone and the Statue of Ramesses II, and the Africa Galleries, which include both antiquities and contemporary pieces.
Oct 9, 2019 · Highlights. The Rosetta Stone. Stock Photos from Claudio Divizia/Shutterstock. What is it: The crown jewel of the collection, the Rosetta Stone has been the most visited object in the British Museum since it was acquired in 1802. Dating back to the Hellenistic Period, this granodiorite stele was uncovered in 1799.
