272 years ago today, the British Museum Act was given Royal Ascent by King George II, establishing what has become today the most visited museum on Earth. 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. That trend continued, and putting aside the obvious and legitimate accusations of colonial theft, a gradual shift occurred away from books and towards antiquities. READ more about what it acquired down the years… (1753)

Today, more than 6 million people visit the museum every year. Established like many museums around the collection of a private individual, in this case Sir Hans Sloan, it gradually grew with an interest in antiquarianism. In 1778, an exhibition debuted a

See Full Page