The British Museum was founded in 1753 which maintained its position as the most popular attraction with 6.8 million visitors to its Great Russell Street site. It was largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane.The museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building.The Museum became a construction site as Sir Robert Smirke's grand neo-classical building gradually arose.
The King's Library, on the ground floor of the East Wing, was handed over in 1827. Its expansion over the following two and a half centuries was largely a result of an expanding British colonial footprint and has resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, the first being the British Museum (Natural History) in South Kensington in 1881.
In 2013 the museum received a record 6.7 million visitors, an increase of 20% from the previous year. Popular exhibitions including "Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum" and "Ice Age Art" are credited with helping fuel the increase in visitors. Plans were announced in September 2014 to recreate the entire building along with all exhibits in the video game Minecraft in conjunction with members of the public.
The British Museum is one of the UK’s largest and most visited museums, chronicling over 2 million years of human history. Make the most of your visit on this 5-hour small-group tour, then marvel at London’s historic monuments on a guided walking tour.Meet your guide and small group of no more than 8 people outside the British Museum and use your pre-paid tickets to skip the queues and head straight inside. Then, take a walk through some 6,000 years of human history as you follow your guide around the museum’s impressive exhibits. Visiting British Museum is not only a eye feast but also a very useful to gain the knowledge of ancient culture and heritage of the people that of United Kingdom.
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