The British Museum, situated in London, is the second most visited museum on earth behind the Louvre. It was established in 1753 and is one of the greatest museums. It attempts to trace human history in a comprehensive and illustrative manner and has been successful in its effort to a great extent.

British Museum

It has a separate department called ‘The Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan’. The British Museum houses the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of Egyptian antiquities outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.The British Museum is famous for the number of Egyptian artifacts it possesses. Many important Egyptian objects, varying in quantity and quality are collected and exhibited by the museum.

Together they illustrate every aspect of the cultures of the Nile Valley, from the Predynastic Neolithic period (c. 10,000 BC) through to the Christian times (12th century AD), a time-span over 11,000 years.

Egyptian antiquities have formed part of the British Museum collection ever since its foundation in 1753 after receiving 160 Egyptian objects[44] from Sir Hans Sloane.

Colossal Granite

The Colossal granite head of Amenhotep III (1350 BC) ,Limestone statue of a husband and wife (1300 BC), Mummy of Cleopatra from Thebes (100 AD),Mummy of Ginger (Around 3300 BC),Limestone false door of Ptahshepses (2380 BC), The Rosetta Stone (196 BC).

Colossal bust of Ramesses II (1250 BC), Colossal limestone bust of Amenhotep III (1350 BC) are some of the noted Egyptian collections in the museum. Colossal bust of Ramesses II (1250 BC) is stored in Room 4 of the museum. Around 160 Egyptian artifacts, alongside 100 Near Eastern pieces are said to be preserved by the museum.

In the battle of the Nile of 1801, French forces under Napoleon were defeated and Egyptian antiquities were confiscated by the British army and presented to the British Museum in 1803. This included the famous Rosetta stone. By 1866,the collection consisted of some 10,000 objects.

Antiquities from excavations started to come to the Museum in the later 19th century as a result of the work of the Egypt Exploration Fund under the efforts of E.A. Wallis Budge.

The collection stood at 57,000 objects by 1924. Active support by the Museum for excavations in Egypt continued to result in useful acquisitions throughout the 20th century until changes in antiquities laws in Egypt led to the suspension of policies allowing finds to be exported. The size of the Egyptian collections now stands at over 110,000 objects.[45]

Wendorf Collection

By the addition of six million objects from the Wendorf Collection of Egyptian and Sudanese Prehistory in autumn 2001, the eight million objects forming the Museum’s permanent collection were expanded further.[46]

These were donated by Professor Fred Wendorf of Southern Methodist University in Texas, and comprise the entire collection of artifacts and environmental remains from his excavations between 1963 and 1997. They are in the care of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan.

The seven permanent Egyptian galleries at the British Museum, which include its largest exhibition space (Room 4, for monumental sculpture), can display only 4% of its Egyptian holdings. The second-floor galleries have a selection of the Museum’s collection of 140 mummies and coffins, the largest outside Cairo.

A high proportion of the collection comes from tombs or contexts associated with the cult of the dead, and it is these pieces, in particular, the mummies, that remain among the most eagerly sought after exhibits by visitors to the Museum.

More information can be found on the official website of British museum, www.britishmuseum.org.