British Museum: photos and reviews of tourists. British Museum in London: exhibits

We will not be mistaken if we say that, perhaps, the most popular landmark of Great Britain is the British Museum in London. This is one of the largest treasuries in the world. Surprisingly, it was created spontaneously (however, like many other museums in the country). It was based on three private collections.

The British Museum is located on an area of 6 hectares in buildings that have been built for over a hundred years. They store the exhibits of all the world's known cultures today. The British Museum in London is one of the few European institutions of this level that is interesting not only for unique, rare exhibits. The building itself is an invaluable monument of history and culture.

His very venerable age (250 years) is directly connected with the history of the country in which the natural sciences flourished. Perhaps, therefore, not a philanthropist and not an artist, but a natural scientist is the founder of the celebrated assembly. We are talking about the Royal Medical Lab, Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753). Throughout his life, he managed to collect a colossal collection of ethnographic, natural science and art exhibits of great value.

British Museum: exhibits

A distinctive feature of this museum is a huge variety of exhibits. Archaeological and ethnographic rarities coexist here with paintings, objects of natural science, ancient manuscripts, books and sculptures.

From the history of the museum

The British National Museum began its history in 1753. It was then that the naturalist from Great Britain Hans Sloan bequeathed his unique collection of the nation. The opening of the museum was approved by a special act of the Parliament of Britain. By 1759, when the Museum officially began its work, the collection was replenished with exhibits of the royal library.

Sculptures

This is the undisputed pearl of the collection, which the British Museum is proud of. These sculptures are called marbles of the Parthenon (or marbles of Elgin). They received their name in honor of the count, who took them out of Greece in due time. Today the museum is proud of the world's largest collection of Asian sculpture. The department of Egyptian antiquities has a collection of about 66 thousand copies, and the ancient Greek collection consists of a number of world-famous masterpieces: the statue of Demeter, the bust of Pericles and others.

The names of their creators remain unknown, despite the uniqueness and scale of the works. There is a version that the statues and frieze of the Parthenon - the work of the famous sculptor from Greece (Phidias), who led the construction of the Acropolis. More than once this country has made attempts to return the marbles of the Parthenon. In turn, England is in no hurry to say goodbye to priceless treasures. Each side has its own opinion on this matter: the Greeks call the export of priceless relics of theft, British museum workers believe that this measure saved the sculpture from destruction.

Probably, both sides are right in their own way. Count Elgin took a very peculiar view of the government's permission to export some of the exhibits from the country. By the time they moved to the British Museum, the Parthenon for more than a century was in ruined ruins.

Rosetta Stone

No doubt, this is one of the most famous exhibits that the British Museum owns. Artifact, which was discovered in the late 18th century. He allowed Jean Champollion (French historian-orientalist, linguist) to translate Egyptian hieroglyphs. Today, this relic meets visitors in the Egyptian hall of the museum.

Mummy Katabet

Three and a half thousand years - the age of the mummy priestess Amon-Ra, which was called Katabet. Her body is wrapped in cloth. The face is covered by a gilded mask, on which is depicted a portrait of a priestess. It is interesting that the sarcophagus was originally intended for men. Another feature of this mummy - the woman's brain, unlike all other organs, was not withdrawn.

Hoa-Haka-Nana-Yaa

The collection of the British Museum has one more pearl. This is a Polynesian sculpture, brought from Easter Island. It is called Hoa-Haka-Nana-Eeyore. In Russian this name is translated as "stolen (or hidden) friend." At first, Moai's image was painted white and red, but eventually the paint faded, peeling off and exposing the basalt tuff. This strong natural material was used in the manufacture of monolithic sculpture.

Beard of the Great Sphinx

Thanks to the efforts of Giovanni Batista Cavilia, a native of Italy, the British Museum has in its collection the beard element of the Great Sphinx. A well-known adventurer Cavilia decided to dig out the main attraction of Giza. Henry Salt (British ambassador) has put an enterprising Italian condition that he must transfer all found elements to the British Museum. The rest of the beard fragments that Cavilia left in the sand are now kept in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

Library of the British Museum

It was based on the 1753 collection of medieval Anglo-Saxon and Latin manuscripts collected by Sir Hans Sloan. The idea of creating the library was supported by George II. He donated to the museum the library of King Edward IV. Another 65 thousand copies appeared in the collection in 1823. It was the gift of King George III. In 1850, one of the most famous reading rooms of the world was opened in the museum building - Karl Marx, Lenin and other famous people worked there.

Library in the 20th century

The most significant event in the history of the British Library occurred in the 20th century. In July 1973, four national collections of books were combined. Later they were joined by the libraries of Scotland and Wales. In 1973 the library system was created. It is effective to this day - readers can get any book that is in the UK.

In the same (XX) century in the collection of the British Library appeared Buddhist manuscripts and the oldest printed books from Dunhuang. In 1933, the British Museum acquired in Russia for a hundred thousand pounds Sinaitic Code - an invaluable Christian relic, which the Soviet authorities considered unnecessary in an atheistic society.

Library Collection

Today it is the largest collection of books, manuscripts, manuscripts in the world. The collection has more than one hundred and fifty thousand copies. Since 1983, the National Sound Archive has appeared in the Library. Here they store notes and sound recordings, manuscripts of musical works - from Handel to the Beatles.

Paintings

The British Museum has not the largest exposition of fine art. But if we talk about the qualitative component, then it is not inferior to the Parisian Louvre or the Petersburg Hermitage. By the number of world-famous masterpieces, the British Museum has no equal. Among the most famous artists of the world, probably, it is impossible to find one whose paintings are absent in the London meeting.

Gallery Exposition

Of course, being on the shores of Foggy Albion, I want to get acquainted with the art of this place. This opportunity is fully provided by the British Museum. Pictures of great painters are represented by landscapes and portraits of Lawrence and Gainsborough, satirical paintings by Hogarth. They demonstrate the original British art school in its diversity. Painting of England vies with the famous canvases of artists of Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, which are widely represented in the London National Gallery.

Here you can see and "Madonna in the rocks" (Leonardo da Vinci). This is a late version of the canvas, stored in the Louvre. Visitors to the museum can enjoy six canvases by Botticelli. Among them is the true pearl of the master - "Venus and Mars". The exhibition extensively presents the works of Piero della Francesca, Antonello da Messina, Veronese, Tintoretto, Titian.

If you are lucky enough to visit the British Museum, do not miss the collection of paintings by Carlo Crivelli, a Venetian who lived and worked in the 15th century. Today, the work of this magnificent master is not as famous as at the end of the XIX century, when for his "Madonna Rondino" was paid a huge amount - 2,184 pounds. That you understand the value of this work, we note that the only picture in the gallery of the great painter Della Francesca was acquired at the same time for 241 pounds.

The most significant collection of the museum is the Netherlands School. It consists of four paintings by Jan van Eyck. No museum in the world has such a treasure. The main value is one of the greatest of his canvases - a portrait of the four Arnolfini. Here you can get acquainted with the works of Memling, Kampen, Christus, Bosque, van der Weyden, Boats and other stars of Dutch painting. In addition, you will see the canvases of Rubens, Brueghel, Rembrandt, van Dyck.

Do not ignore the work of Vermeer Delft - a Dutch artist of the XVI century. The British Museum has two of his works. This, believe me, a lot. The most mysterious of the Dutch artists, Vermeer, after himself left so few works that in the world they are all on a special account. Even in his homeland in Holland you can see only six of his canvases.

Quite widely in the museum are the works of the famous Spaniards - Murillo, El Greco, Ribera, Goya, Zurbaran. Creativity of the greatest painter of Spain Diego Velasquez is represented by nine canvases, among them one of his most famous works - "Venus in front of a mirror".

The German gallery collection is not so extensive. Nevertheless, the works of such great masters as Cranach, Altdorfer, Holbein, Durer, Poussin, Watteau are in the museum's exposition.