Get closer to the British Museum collection and immerse yourself in two million years of history, across six continents. Collection online allows access to almost four and a half million objects in more than two million records.
Explore more than 60 galleries at the British Museum from home. Our gallery pages feature a range of exciting resources, including virtual tours with Google Street View, object highlights, timelines, family activities and facts.
Find out how the Museum shares expertise and the collection across more than 250 UK cultural organisations. International Loans, research and touring exhibitions are some of the many ways we build ties internationally.
British Museum collection . The British Museum collection totals at least 8 million objects. Roughly 80,000 objects are on public display at the British Museum in Bloomsbury at any one time. This is 1% of the collection, however, the displays include many of the most important items. Many objects within the
The British Museum's collection has grown in many ways over the past three centuries, starting with the 1753 Act of Parliament which purchased for the public Sir Hans Sloane's collection of over 80,000 items.
You can continue to enjoy the British Museum at home. Explore the collection and tour the galleries via Google Street View. Plus get the inside story from Museum experts and guests through our online events, blog, podcasts, YouTube channel and social media.
Some of the British Museum's best-known collection items come from Egypt, each with their own unique story. The Rosetta Stone is one of the most visited objects in the Museum and is equally popular online. Discover everything you ever wanted to know about the tablet that unlocked the secret of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
From a ceremonial mask of the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast of America to an ancient Maya hieroglyphic stairway recreated in Lancashire limestone, the objects within the collection have a rich and complex story to tell.