The British Museum in London was founded by an act of Parliament in 1753 and built on the collection of the physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane, who left his thousands of objects, books and specimens to the nation. It opened to the public in 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury. As the British Empire grew, it gained major collections, including the Rosetta Stone, which was key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, and the sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens. The present neoclassical building, designed by Sir Robert Smirke, was built in the nineteenth century, and the glass-roofed Great Court was added in 2000. Entry is free, and its collections are the subject of continuing debates about the return of cultural property.
Before and after
- 5 December 1757Battle of Leuthen
- 28 April 1758Birth of James Monroe
- 6 May 1758Birth of Maximilien Robespierre
- 25 December 1758Halley's Comet returns as predicted
- 1759Construction of British Museum
- from 16 January 1759 to 19 January 1759Invasion of Martinique
- 25 January 1759Birth of Robert Burns
- 14 April 1759Death of George Frideric Handel
- 27 April 1759Birth of Mary Wollstonecraft
More in Art, literature & culture
- 1602Publication of Hamlet
- 1652Origins of Quakers
- c. 1653The Taj Mahal is completed
- from 1660 to 1725Rise of Classicism
- 1661Construction of Palace of Versailles
- from c. 1730s to 1780sRise of Rococo
The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 18th century.