British Museum

The British Museum was founded in 1753, and opened its doors in 1759. It was the first national museum to cover all fields of human knowledge, and is one of the world’s best-known and most-visited museums. It has always been, and remains, free and open to all. Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753), physician and President of the Royal Society, amassed a huge collection of more than 80,000 natural and artificial rarities, with a vast library of over 40,000 books, manuscripts, medals and 32,000 coins. Sloane bequeathed his collection to the nation in his will, and it became the founding collection of the British Museum. Over the next 260 years, the museum’s wide-ranging collections have grown to about eight million objects covering two million years of human history. The Museum’s curators continue to acquire objects today, and are actively researching the existing collections, including the circumstances in which objects were originally acquired. The British Museum works in collaboration with their own scientists, as well as academic and community partners in the UK and across the world. These stories are then shared with the public through gallery displays, temporary exhibitions, loans, publications, talks, events and the British Museum’s website. The Museum prides itself upon enlightenment, ideals and values. It welcomes open debate, scientific research, progress and tolerance - all of which have been important markers of the Museum’s reputation since its foundation. The work of the Museum continues to be driven by an insatiable curiosity for the world, a deep belief in objects as reliable witnesses of human history, as well as the desire to expand and share knowledge. Music: Debussy - Prelude to the afternoon of a faun by Natalia Ensemble.