British Museum,History Architecture Departments,History,The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than 7 million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present.,Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum,The origins of the British Museum lie in the will of the physician, naturalist and collector, Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753). Sloane wanted his collection of more than 71,000 objects, library and herbarium to be preserved intact after his death. He bequeathed it to King George II for the nation in return for payment of 20,000 to his heirs. If refused, the collection was to be offered to centres of learning abroad. A large and influential group of Trustees was charged with overseeing the disposition of his estate.,Sir Hans Sloan,On 7 June 1753 King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum - national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public and aiming to collect everything.,Left to Right: Montagu House, Townley Gallery and Sir Robert Smirkes west wing under construction (July 1828),In the early days of the British Museum the collection was divided in three : Printed Books (including prints); Manuscripts (including medals); Natural and Artificial Productions (everything else).,In the early part of the nineteenth century there were a number of high profile acquisitions. Theseincluded the Rosetta Stone(1802), the Townley collection of classical sculpture (1805), and the Parthenon sculptures (1816).,The nineteenth century: expansion and discovery,In 1823 the gift to the nation by George IV of his fathers library (the Kings Library) prompted the construction of todays quadrangular building designed by Sir Robert Smirke (17801867). By 1857, both the quadrangular building and the round Reading Room had been constructed.,The twentieth century: providing a public service,The twentieth century saw a great expansion in public services.The first summary guide to the Museum was published in 1903 and the first guide lecturer was appointed in 1911. By the 1970s, there was an active programme of gallery refurbishments and an education service and publishing company had been established.,In 1973 the library became part of a new organisation, the British Library. This organisation remained at the Museum until 1997, when the books left Bloomsbury for a new building at St Pancras.,Architecture,The core of todays building, the four main wings of the British Museum, was designed in the nineteenth century. Other important architectural developments include the round Reading Room with its domed ceiling and the Norman Foster designed Great Court which opened in 2000.,The entrance to the museum,By the start of the nineteenth century, Montagu House could no longer contain the Museums vastly increased collection and the trustees set up a Buildings Committee in 1802 to plan for expansion. The first extension, the Townley Gallery, was constructed 1804 -8 to provide space for the classical sculpture collection of Charles Townley and for Egyptian antiquities. Built in the Palladian style(16世纪意大利建筑家-帕拉第奥建筑型式), it was located in the space currently occupied by the southern section of the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery(浅浮雕）. It was demolished in 1842-6 to make way for the Smirke building.,King Edward VIIs galleries,King Edward VIIs galleries were designed by Sir John Burnet (1859-1939), in the Beaux Arts style. They face Montague Place to the north and were intended as the first phase of an expansion of the Museum which aimed to replace all surrounding properties, the freeholds of which had been purchased from the Bedford Estates in 1894-5. However, protection orders on surrounding buildings mean that the scheme can now never be completed. The foundation stone was laid by King Edward VII in 1907 and the building was opened by King George V and Queen Mary in 1914.,Kings Library,The Kings Library was a royal collection of books created by King George III anddonated to the nation. A gallery, named after the collection, was built at the British Museum in 1827 to house them. It is the oldest room in the Museum and now home to the permanent exhibition Enlightenment: Discovering the world in the eighteenth century.,The original collection and gallery,Restoring the Kings Library gallery,The Great Court,Designed by Foster and Partners, the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court transformed the Museums inner courtyard into the largest covered public square in Europe. It is a two-acre space enclosed by a spectacular glass roof with the world-famous Reading Room at its centre.,The British Museum, Great Court,博物馆外观,大英博物馆南入口,白翼大楼,Departments,Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan Department of Greek and Roman Antiquiti