The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution

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Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609–64), shepherds and animals, brush and red-brown oil paint on paper, about 1650. One of the rare Hedwig glasses, originating from the Middle East or Norman Sicily, (10th–12th centuries AD) Two luxurious silver brooches set with precious stones from Glen Lyon and Lochbuie, Scotland (early 16th century) He said the museum did not have a full catalogue of everything. “Someone with knowledge of what’s not registered has a big advantage in removing some of those items. Obviously, a clear outcome from what has happened is that the British Museum has to accelerate the process that was already under way of getting a complete register of the items in our collection.”

A number of luxurious penannular brooches such as the Londesborough Brooch, Breadalbane Brooch and those from the Penrith Hoard, British Isles, (8th–9th centuries) One of the 11 leaf-shaped points found near Volgu, Saône-et-Loire, France and estimated to be 16,000 years old [88] Room 24: Living and Dying ( The Wellcome Trust Gallery) partially closed from 19 February – 1 March 2024 The British Museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport through a three-year funding agreement. Its head is the Director of the British Museum. The British Museum was run from its inception by a 'principal librarian' (when the book collections were still part of the museum), a role that was renamed 'director and principal librarian' in 1898, and 'director' in 1973 (on the separation of the British Library). [55] Trustees [ edit ]Large terracotta sarcophagus and lid with painted scenes from Klazomenai, western Turkey, (510–480 BC) Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena with important record of the genealogy of the Later Gupta dynasty up to king Ādityasena, Ghosrawan, Bihar, India, (675 AD)

A number of mediaeval ivory panels including the Borradaile, Wernher and John Grandisson Triptychs, (10th–14th centuries) Repatriation and reburial of human remains is a controversial issue, and the British Museum has i

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There is also controversy over artefacts taken during the destruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing by an Anglo-French expeditionary force during the Second Opium War in 1860, an event which drew a protest from Victor Hugo. [110] [111] The British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, among others, have been asked since 2009 to open their archives for investigation by a team of Chinese investigators as a part of an international mission to document Chinese national treasures in foreign collections. [112] In 2010 Neil MacGregor, the former Director of the British Museum, said he hoped that both British and Chinese investigators would work together on the controversial collection. [113] In 2020 the museum appointed a curator to research the history of its collections, including disputed items. [114] In October 2021 the British Museum received a written request for the return of ‘Nigerian antiquities’ from the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Nigeria. The Round Reading Room, which was designed by the architect Sydney Smirke, opened in 1857. For almost 150 years researchers came here to consult the museum's vast library. The Reading Room closed in 1997 when the national library (the British Library) moved to a new building at St Pancras. Today it has been transformed into the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Centre. The Greek objects originate from across the Ancient Greek world, from the mainland of Greece and the Aegean Islands, to neighbouring lands in Asia Minor and Egypt in the eastern Mediterranean and as far as the western lands of Magna Graecia that include Sicily and southern Italy. The Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean cultures are represented, and the Greek collection includes important sculpture from the Parthenon in Athens, as well as elements of two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos. [77] Legion will share the stories of real soldiers and will challenge some of the modern perceptions about what it meant to be a Roman soldier by showing the army was as much an engine of social change as a formidable war machine. Recruits came from almost all walks of life and joined to advance themselves, a regular job with a pension for some and for others the transformational chance to acquire Roman citizenship. Many supported families despite a general ban on marriage for ordinary soldiers at the time.

Group of six Buddhist clay votive plaques found in a cave in Patania, Penang, Malaysia, (6th–11th centuries AD)An outstanding collection of Chinese antiquities, paintings, and porcelain, lacquer, bronze, jade, and other applied arts The next major addition was the White Wing 1882–1884 added behind the eastern end of the South Front, the architect being Sir John Taylor.

Three of the twenty extant Carolingian crystal intaglios including the Lothair Crystal, the Metz engraved gem with crucifixion and Saint-Denis Crystal, central Europe, (9th century) A large collection of Chinese ritual bronzes, including a wine vessel in the shape of two rams supporting a jar, (1500–200 BC) Hoard of Iron Age metal weapons excavated at the Wurreegaonbarrownear Kamptee in Maharastra, India, (7th – 1st centuries BC)Ornate gold fibula with granulated parade of animals from the Bernardini Tomb, Cerveteri, (675–650 BC) Hoard of Seljuq artefacts from Hamadan including gold cup, silver gilt belt fittings and dress accessories, Iran, (11th–12th centuries) This touring exhibition will take a collection assembled more than 300 years ago to explore new connections and different perspectives. Using a range of objects, including natural history rarities, books and cultural objects from the collection of physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753), we ask why this collection was created and what this – and other historic collections – can offer to audiences today. Originally held entirely at the British Museum, Sloane's collection is now spread across the British Museum, the British Library and Natural History Museum. With funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council Sloane Lab project, the touring exhibition will reconnect objects from the original collection to explore stories old and new.