The history of the British Museum

1753, after the death of collector Sir hans sloane (hans sloane 1660- 1753), 7 1000 personal collections, a large number of plant specimens, books and manuscripts were all donated to the country according to his will.

After its opening, the museum seized a large number of precious collections through various activities of the British people in various places. The early British National Museum tended to collect natural history specimens, but there were also a large number of cultural relics and books, which attracted a large number of visitors.

1824, the museum built a new building in the north of Monta Gu Lou, which was completed on 1840s, and the old Monta Gu Lou was demolished soon after. Shortly after the new building was built, a circular reading room opened to the public was built in the yard.

Due to the limitation of space, in 1880, the British National Museum separated natural history specimens from archaeological relics, and the British National Museum specialized in collecting archaeological relics. 1900, the museum was divided again, and books, manuscripts and other contents were separated to form the new British Library.

Founded in 1753, the British National Museum is the first national public museum in the world. It is open to all those who are "eager to learn" for free. The main building of the museum is in Bloomsbury, London, and the core building covers an area of about 56,000 square meters. On both sides of the main entrance of the museum, there are eight thick and tall Roman columns. The Grand Court is located in the center of the British National Museum. It was opened in June 5438+February 2000, and it is the largest covered square in Europe. The top of the square is made up of 1656 pieces of glass with strange shapes. In the center of the square is the reading room of the British National Museum, which is open to the public.

The existing building was built in the middle of19th century, with more than 100 showrooms, covering an area of 670,000 square meters and more than 4 million exhibits. On both sides of the main entrance of the museum, there are eight thick and tall Ionian columns. In addition to enjoying the exhibits, visitors can also appreciate the outstanding performance of the British in museum design. The British National Museum is open to the public free of charge for several months except 1972. From 1798 to 180 1, Napoleon fought in Egypt and took 100 scientists and archaeologists who studied Egyptian culture. 1799, in Rosetta, a small village in the Nile Delta, when soldiers were building fortifications, they accidentally dug up a black stone tablet, which was 1. 14m high and 0.73m wide ... The words on the stone tablet were clearly visible and carved with three different characters.

Archaeologists embedded in the army concluded that this stone tablet was unusual and prepared to transport it back to France to study it slowly. But before the French could do this, Napoleon's army was defeated by the British. According to the war agreement, France unconditionally handed over all the cultural relics excavated in Egypt. In the end, the Rosetta Stone was collected by the British National Museum. Up to now, the inscription on the stone tablet still says "British loot". Hall 33 of the British National Museum is a permanent exhibition hall dedicated to China's cultural relics. Like the exhibition halls of ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Rome and India, it is one of the few national exhibition halls in the museum. The collection of China cultural relics in this museum includes all the art categories in China. In short, ancient stone tools, Shang and Zhou bronzes, stone Buddha scriptures in Wei and Jin Dynasties, paintings in Tang and Song Dynasties, porcelain in Ming and Qing Dynasties and other national treasures engraved with various cultural peaks in China history can be seen here, which can be described as complete and exquisite.

However, this is only a part of the 23,000 rare treasures of China in the British National Museum, and the other nine tenths are stored in Room 10. Ordinary tourists are not allowed to meet unless they get special permission.

Some collections, such as the Tang Dynasty manuscripts of Gu Kaizhi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, can only be feasted by specialized experts. As the earliest silk painting in China and one of the earliest works of professional painters in China, The Picture of Women's History is a milestone in the history of fine arts in China, and it has always been a treasure in the court collections of past dynasties.

There are only two pieces left in the world, one of which was copied by Song people and collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing. The brushwork color is not top grade. The other is this replica of the British National Museum. Originally hidden in the Qing Palace, it was the favorite desk of Emperor Qianlong, and it was hidden in Yuanmingyuan. 1860, British and French forces invaded Beijing, and British captain Ji Yong stole it from Yuanmingyuan and took it abroad. 1903 was collected by the British National Museum and became the most important oriental cultural relic in the museum. It is no exaggeration to call it "the treasure of the town hall". It is reported that Xie Chengshui, director of the Art Research Office of Dunhuang Studies Center of Nanjing Normal University, came across this replica in the secret room in 2002. At that time, only two Japanese people came to the scene to copy it in the register.

Other masterpieces include the green landscape paintings of Li Sixun, the ancestor of the Northern School and the painter of the Tang Dynasty; Ju Ran, a representative figure of Jiangnan Painting School in the Five Dynasties, painted a picture of Maolin and Zhang Die: Fan Kuan, one of the three landscape painters in the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote a visit to Qin; "Hua Yan" by Li, a famous painter in the Northern Song Dynasty; And Su Shi's ink and bamboo paintings, one of the eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties. In addition, there are bronze double sheep statues in Shang Dynasty, bronze guis of Kanghou in Western Zhou Dynasty, jade carving dragons in Han Dynasty and topaz sitting on a dog in Tang Dynasty.

There are dozens of square meters of Dunhuang murals on the central wall of China Pavilion. Although the cut marks are still visible, it is difficult to hide its timeless freshness and the elegance of the three "rich and fat" bodhisattvas. There are tens of thousands of national treasures Dunhuang scrolls and scrolls in the British National Museum. Apart from this mural, other collections are hard to find in China Pavilion.

From 1856 to 1932, many so-called "western explorers" went deep into the northwest of China for more than 60 times in the name of scientific investigation, and each time they took away a large number of documents and cultural relics. Among them, especially in 1907, the Hungarian Stein and the French Bosch looted the most cultural relics in the Dunhuang Tibetan Sutra Cave.

The British Library also collects more than 60,000 kinds of precious documents and ancient books in China, including the earliest edition of Paramita Classic in China, 45 volumes of Yongle Grand Ceremony, Oracle Bone Inscriptions, bamboo slips, carved ancient books, Dunhuang scriptures and maps. At the beginning of its establishment

The original collection of the British National Museum includes cultural relics, coins, medals, natural history specimens and a large library. Today, the collection of the British National Museum includes more than 8 million cultural relics spanning the world's cultural history: from stone tools of primitive humans to prints of the 20th century.

When the British National Museum was established, its collection was 7 1000 cultural relics, including books and natural specimens left by Sir hans sloane to the country in 1753. There are two other collections in the early museum. The Coton Library collects Chen Fang's books and manuscripts. Harle's manuscript collection. The original collection is divided into three categories: printed books (including prints); Manuscripts (including medals); Natural and artificial products (all other series). 1772, the first batch of famous cultural relics were transported to the museum, when the museum obtained the Greek vase of Sir william hamilton. Other cultural relics obtained include: 1756, the first ancient Egyptian mummy left to the museum, and a large number of ethnographic handicrafts brought back by Captain Cook on his three Pacific voyages (1767–1770). The museum also received many more bizarre donations: an elephant trunk bitten by a beaver (1760), a stone similar to petrified bread (1760), a live North American tortoise (1765) and several songbirds.

Classical cultural relics

People's interest in classical cultural relics determines the development direction of museum collections in the early19th century. The museum has a large collection of well-known classical cultural relics, such as the Rosetta Stone (1802) and Tonli's classical sculptures (1805), including the statue of the discus thrower and the bust of the young woman Clety. 1807, the establishment of the Antiquities Department made people realize the importance of cultural relics. Throughout the century, the number of classical cultural relics in museums has been increasing. These include the statue of Apollo in Barcelona (18 15), the Parthenon sculpture (18 16), the Nereid Nujed Monument (1842) and the remains of the Mausoleum of Mo Solas (/kloc-0 /kloc-in the middle of the 0/9th century, people's interest in the Middle East increased greatly. From 65438 to 0825, collections in West Asia became popular, including manuscripts, medals and cultural relics of "countries along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers". /kloc-In the 1950s of 0/9, the museum received the first batch of stone carvings from the Middle East, which were unearthed cultural relics excavated at Nimrud site in the Middle East. One of the giant winged bulls almost failed to reach Bloom's burial site because its convoy was ambushed by a group of robbers on the road. The traces of musket bullets left on the statue during the confrontation between the two sides are still clearly visible today. During the period of 1860, the cultural relics department was divided into three departments, which reflected the new focus of collection. These three departments are Greek and Roman Cultural Relics Department, Coin Medal Department and Oriental Cultural Relics Department.

British and medieval cultural relics

/kloc-in the second half of the 0/9th century, people shifted the focus of cultural relics collection. Under the constant pressure of groups who want more respect for national cultural relics, the museum has set up a position responsible for collecting and managing British and medieval materials. The first person appointed to do this job was 25-year-old Augustus wollaston Franks (later knighted), who laid the foundation for the establishment of various departments of the museum. Franks not only added British and medieval cultural relics to the museum, but also collected prehistoric materials, ethnographic materials and archaeological materials from Europe and beyond, as well as oriental works of art and handicrafts. The cultural relics collected by Franks include Sambia's whale bone jewelry box (Northumbria, 1867), the Royal Jinbei (1892) and 10000 pieces of Christie's prehistoric and ethnographic collections, including Mexican turquoise masks. From 65438 to 0897, Franks donated his personal collection to the museum on his deathbed. Including the magnificent treasures of Ochse. /kloc-In the 1980s of 0/9, the collection was scattered everywhere for the first time, and the natural history materials were transferred to the new museum in south kensington, becoming a natural history museum.

The Development of Collectibles in the 20th Century

In the 20th century, in order to better show the collections to visitors, museums reorganized their collections and opened many new exhibition halls. The main development after World War I was that 1920 established a research laboratory. Its duty is to report the condition of the collection and help to repair and preserve them. This department was established after it was found that many collections were destroyed in the war. There were many important archaeological discoveries in the 20th century. On the way to Ur, a series of tombs called imperial tombs were discovered abroad. At the same time, the ship burial of the famous Anglo-Saxon royal family was found in Sutton Lake, England (1938). 1939, these findings were presented to the museum. 1997, the collection was dispersed again, and the stacks were transferred from the museum to the new British Library in St. Pancras.

Future collection

With donations and financial support from public institutions and individuals, museums can continue to increase their collections. In addition to ancient cultural relics, collecting contemporary cultural relics is also extremely important for museums. These modern works, based on various historical materials in the museum's historical collection, come from all over the world and witness the changes of society, politics, religion, economy, art and technology. Cultural relics establish a connection between the present and the past, enabling museums to tell the history of the world to future generations. Contemporary cultural relics include more than 200 Japanese photo albums from 1945 to 2000, which were obtained with the help of friends from the British National Museum. Among them, three themes are reflection on contemporary Japan: post-war photography exhibition. La Bouchedu Roi is a thought-provoking work of art, created by the artist Romuald Hazoumé. With the support of the Art Foundation and Friends of the National Museum of Britain, the museum won the job in 2007 to commemorate the bicentennial of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade parliament. After being exhibited in the museum, the King's Mouth was exhibited in Britain from June 2, 2007 to May 3, 20091. A number of internationally renowned artists' art medals were entrusted by the British Art Medal Trust Fund, and these new medals were handed over to the British National Museum. They will be exhibited at the Medal of Honor Exhibition from June 25th to September 27th, 2009. The collection originally came from more than 80,000 cultural relics and specimens collected by Sir hans sloane, the physician of King George II of England. 1823, King George IX of England donated a large number of books of his father. In the past 200 years, the museum has continued to collect cultural relics from ancient countries such as Britain and Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome, India and China.

Ancient Egyptian art is the most famous collection in the British National Museum. The most striking of the British national museums is the Museum of Oriental Art and Cultural Relics. The museum has more than100000 cultural relics from China, Japanese, Indian and other Southeast Asian countries. Among them, the porcelain showroom occupies several halls, with exhibits ranging from Shang and Zhou bronzes to Tang and Song porcelains and Ming and Qing jade articles. China alone has more than 20,000 rare treasures, most of which are priceless. For example, paintings and embroideries of various dynasties in China, cultural relics unearthed in various periods, paintings and calligraphy of Tang and Song Dynasties, and porcelain of Ming and Qing Dynasties. Among them, the most precious are the True Picture of the Female History, the three-color portrait of Luohan in the Song Dynasty, Dunhuang scriptures, famous paintings in the Song and Ming Dynasties, etc. The bronze statue of Shang dynasty is two conjoined sheep with a round elephant tube in the middle, which is very beautiful and exquisite. There is also a Song Dynasty porcelain hip flask with a lotus flower around the base and responsibility and a lion sitting on the lid, which is a rare treasure. The two big stone lions at the back door of the museum were also shipped from China.

Famous collection

Rosetta stone in Egypt (the most precious Egyptian cultural relic acquired by Britain after Napoleon's defeat in Egypt)

Marble sculpture of Parthenon in Athens (acquired by 18 16, requested by Greece)

The head of Pharaoh Amon Hopt III (purchased at 1823).

Franks jewelry box (1867)

Portland vase (Portland vase)

Taoist figures in the British National Museum

Blue-and-white mandarin fish porcelain plate in British National Museum

Elgin Marble Sculpture of the Parthenon in Ancient Greece (18 16 was obtained through compensation for land cession, which the Greeks demanded and the British refused to return).

Ramses II (18 18 when the British Consul General in Egypt donated and ceded the land).

Charlotte Brontexq pursued a love letter written by a professor while studying in Brussels.

When Charlotte Brontexq was a governess, he pursued a love letter from a married professor.

Charlotte Brontexq insulted Jane Austen's original stationery.

Photos of Charlotte Brontexq cursing with third-rate writers in the newspaper.