This is one of the most amazing museums in the world today--and there are a LOT of spectacular museums. It pretty much has the history of the world, from pre-civilization to modern times, all under one roof. What is equally amazing is that the museum continues to be free of charge, not counting the special exhibits.

A large chunk of the museum is dedicated to the collections from ancient Greece and Egypt. The collections from these two areas are absolutely fascinating, and the descriptions given on the artifacts are diligently done. One of the highlights in this part of the museum is the famous Rosetta stone, which allowed archaeologists to understand and translate hieroglyphics.

I found that the best way to explore the museum was to come back a few times and only spend a couple of hours at a time. That way, you will not be overwhelmed with the large number of galleries you will need to see or numb with information and sensory overload. A visit to London should include the British Museum without fail. It is both grand and fun.

Being only a short walk from our hotel, we visited the British Museum. Its advantage is that everything stretches out before leaving you are free to make your own discoveries--instant world travel! Some might view this stripping the earth of its treasures as a tragedy, but often it is the only way to preserve them. The Elgin Marbles would, for instance, have been destroyed by corrosive pollution if left on the Parthenon in Athens

The museum, established in 1753, is the world's greatest collection of antiquities, particularly from Egypt, the Near East, Greece and Rome, and Asia. Among its most famous holdings are the Elgin Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, and the Portland Vase. The British have gone to the ends of the earth in search of artefacts to document the history and aspirations of the civilizations and cultures of every continent. It all comes together here, from Rome to the Far East, from the Americas to the Pacific Rim. The collection is too vast for anyone to truthfully say they have "done" the museum.

Its creation was spurred by a private donation to the government in the 1730s of over 71,000 exhibits. These combined with another collection already held created an urgent need for a museum. Additions to the collections led to continual remodelling of the building, leading to a mixture of Victorian, French, and Greek Revival architecture styles. The central plaza contained the Reading Room, one of the great centres of European scholarship, where Karl Marx famously wrote Das Kapital. At the turn of the millennium, this Reading Room was given its own museum, The British Library. Then a delicate glass dome was erected over the entire central plaza, creating the Great Court. Its dome arches gracefully over the floor below and converges on the copper roof of the former Reading Room, as if one dome rested on another. It is a spectacular sight and enhances the rest of the building's architecture. It is also a good place to have a cup of coffee and a snack or browse the bookshop.

I spent a considerable time in the first gallery I came to that was devoted to Islam. In truth, it would be possible to spend a day or so studying the beliefs and achievements of each of the many cultures covered. Having only a few hours before catching the connections back to the airport, I realised that a whirlwind tour was called for. Fortunately, photography is allowed, so I have a record of some of the main items together with their captions.

To assist those who know what they are looking for, COMPASS is available in the former Library's Reading Room. It provides a much-needed orientation tool for the surrounding galleries.

The museum hosts lectures, study days, and celebrations of cultures. The latter often includes a host of free activities, performances, and displays, which may include dancers, listening to stories, and music. If I stayed in London, I would attend many of those.

The standard against which all omnibus museums have been measured ever since it opened in 1753, the British Museum is undoubtedly worth a trip to London in itself. Personally, I don't consider any sojourn to the British capital worthy of the title without poking my head in here – however briefly – and you could happily spend years inside without scratching the surface of its collections. Unfortunately, time is brief, and with 15,000 visitors a day seeking to do the same, it's important to plan your visit (or visits) strategically:

Plan! The British Museum is immense, and even a cursory stroll through the galleries takes a day. Consequently, decide beforehand what you absolutely must see – perhaps choosing its highlights or deciding to focus on a particular collection. Remember that it's not so much one museum as many all organized according to the same principles of completeness and curation by specialist scholars. Be sure to pick up a free map and note that while the "classical tour" is expensive, the volunteer-run Eye-opener Tours covering individual sections of the museum are free.

Visit the most popular sections on a weekday afternoon or weekend morning: School groups tend to visit during the morning on weekdays, while weekend afternoons tend to be busier than the mornings and most people head for the highlights – the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern collections are the most popular. In general, the large tours avoid the side galleries, so if you're stuck in a crowd, these rooms (which tend to also have the more informative labeling) are the best respites within these collections. The new Sainsbury Africa Galleries and Asian Collections are only slightly less impressive (and heavily visited.)

At peak times, head for less famous collections: Although they can't match Mediterranean treasures, such as the Elgin Marbles and Rosetta Stone (nothing can really!), the museum's little-visited Islamic collection is one of the best of their kind in the west, and its soaring displays of Native American life quite interestingly fuse modern and pre-Columbian artifacts. The museum's most underrated permanent exhibition is the new Enlightenment Gallery housed in the King's Library, which provides a sense of the intellectual undercurrents behind the museum's creation (its collections also spawned what are now the British Library and Natural History Museum) and how it originally looked.

Don't forget to appreciate where you are. Without its collections, the British Museum's buildings, in the historic intellectual quarter of Bloomsbury, would be intriguing in their own right as paragons of 19th-century architecture. The present quadrangular outer building, designed by Sir Robert Smirke, was completed in 1852 and has been significantly expanded since. The round Reading Room in its central courtyard, by his brother Sidney, was completed in 1857. After the British Library was established in 1998, the courtyard was covered over by Lord Norman Foster to form Europe's largest public square. It's perhaps the most attractive juxtaposition of historical and contemporary architecture in a city full of such combinations.

http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

The British Museum is a definite must-see. It has the largest Egyptian artifacts aside from Egypt itself. Some of the many Roman structures seen at the museum were indeed too large to fit through the museum doors. They had to be disassembled and then reassembled once inside this grand museum. The cafeteria-syle eatery has lots of dishes to chose from and lots of seating to rest those sore feet. This is a fun place for adults and children alike that really has something for everyone. Please do make the British Museum one of your destination stops when visiting London.

We met our guide (Tom) at the Holborn tube stop, then wound our way through Bloomsbury on our way to the British Museum. Tom pointed out the homes of the famous and infamous, past and present, and we then arrived at the British Museum.

As would be expected, the place is huge and crowded, and one could easily spend weeks there without seeing everything. Tom took us directly to the highlights, and his commentary was insightful and informative, adding immensely to the experience.

After seeing the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon Marbles, the Assyrian friezes, and a wealth of other artifacts, we were left on our own to explore further the things we found most interesting. My friend and I had tea in the snack area in the Great Hall, which was very tasty and reasonably priced. The gift shop is wonderful, with great gift items for everyone on your list, including yourself.

Since we visited during the school year, there were few tourists, but many groups of uniformed school children. Our guide informed us that the children are given free rein so they may develop enthusiasm for art and learning. They were pretty rowdy at times, but it was really great to see their energy and excitement.

Admission to the museum is free, although donations are requested. A tour is a great way to become oriented and then go back to explore the museum's treasures in more depth. Since the museum covers over 13 acres, an orientation tour can save you from wasting your valuable time roaming around aimlessly.