Is the British Museum worth it?
For ancient art it is one of the great museums of the world, and it costs nothing. The problem is choice: two million years of history and crowds that all head for the same two or three objects. The answer is a fixed route that keeps walking to a minimum. This one stays in the ancient and medieval collections, the part that links to the art history guides on this site.
Ground floor: Egypt, Assyria, Greece
1. The Rosetta Stone (Room 4)
The same decree of Egyptian priests written three times: in hieroglyphs, in demotic, the everyday Egyptian script, and in Greek, the language of the administration. Because scholars could read the Greek, it became the key to the hieroglyphs. Expect a crowd; come back at the end if it is too thick.
2. The colossal bust of Ramesses II (Room 4)
In the same gallery of Egyptian sculpture, the upper part of a colossal granite statue of the pharaoh, made to tower over the people who passed below it. Nearby is the colossal granite head of Amenhotep III.
3. The winged lions of Ashurnasirpal II and the Black Obelisk (Room 6)
Two colossal human-headed lions that guarded a doorway of the royal palace at Nimrud. Between them, the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III shows foreign rulers bringing tribute, including one from Israel.
4. The palace reliefs of Nimrud (Rooms 7-8)
Stone panels from the throne room and royal apartments of King Ashurnasirpal II: the king at war, hunting and in ritual scenes with winged protective spirits. The guide to the famous Assyrian reliefs explains how to read them.
5. The winged bulls of Khorsabad (Room 10)
A pair of colossal human-headed winged bulls that guarded the palace of Sargon II, placed at the entrance of Room 10. Count their legs, then read about the five-leg illusion.
6. The lion hunt of Ashurbanipal (Room 10a)
The reliefs from the palace of the last great Assyrian king at Nineveh, around 645-635 BCE: lions released from cages, chased and killed. The wounded animals are carved with a realism rare in ancient art; the guide to the dying lion relief shows why they still move people.
7. The Nereid Monument (Room 17)
A tomb from Xanthos in Lycia, in present-day Turkey, built like an Ionic Greek temple on a high podium for a local ruler and partly reconstructed in the gallery. Between the columns stood statues of the Nereids, the sea nymphs who helped sailors in storms.
8. The Parthenon sculptures (Room 18)
Sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens: figures from the pediments, metopes with the battle of Lapiths and Centaurs, and a long stretch of the frieze with the riders of the procession. Start with the frieze, then the metopes. The rest of what survives is in Athens, where the Acropolis Museum displays casts of these pieces next to its originals.
9. The Mausoleum of Halikarnassos (Room 21)
Sculpture from the tomb of a king that was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, so famous that its name became the word “mausoleum”. The building stood up to forty metres high; here you see the giant figures and the friezes that covered it.
10. Hoa Hakananai’a (Room 24)
A step out of the ancient Mediterranean: the stone ancestor figure, or moai, from Rapa Nui (Easter Island), whose name means “lost or stolen friend“. It stands in the gallery Living and Dying, near the end of the ground-floor route.
Upper floors: Mesopotamia, Egypt, early Europe
11. The Standard of Ur (Room 56)
A small box covered in shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli, from a royal tomb at Ur, with one side showing war and the other a banquet. Look closely: the figures are tiny. The guide to the Standard of Ur reads both sides.
12. The tomb-chapel of Nebamun (Room 61)
Wall paintings from the tomb-chapel of a wealthy official at Thebes, around 1350 BCE, shown together after ten years of conservation: Nebamun hunting birds in the marshes, a banquet with musicians and dancers. They are among the finest Egyptian wall paintings outside Egypt.
13. The mummies (Rooms 62-63)
Mummies, coffins, masks and portraits made for the afterlife, of people and animals. The rooms are always busy; walk through to the cases at the back. The guide to mummification explains the process.
14. The Sutton Hoo helmet (Room 41)
The centrepiece of the Anglo-Saxon ship burial found in Suffolk, displayed with a replica that shows how it once looked. It is one of only four complete helmets known from Anglo-Saxon England. Note that part of Room 41 is closed from 12 to 23 October 2026.
15. The Lewis Chessmen (Room 40)
End next door with the medieval chess pieces carved in walrus ivory: kings, queens, bishops and warriors biting their shields. Small, funny and much loved.
What can you skip?
Skip lingering in the Great Court at busy times; keep the minutes for the galleries. Skip trying to add more than a couple of extra rooms to two hours. If you have time to spare, the best additions are the Oxus Treasure and the Cyrus Cylinder in Room 52, or the Mesopotamian room next to the Standard of Ur.
How long do you need?
Two hours for this route, about seventy minutes on the ground floor and the rest upstairs. You could spend a whole day here, but two focused hours show you more than a tired afternoon. For the city’s other free museums, see London’s free museums; for the Assyrian bulls’ cousins in Paris, the Louvre.
The British Museum in brief
- Ticket
- Free; some exhibitions are paid
- Booking
- Free timed ticket recommended, for priority entry at busy times; without one, entry depends on capacity
- Hours
- Daily 10:00-17:00, Friday until 20:30; last entry 16:45 (Friday 20:15); closed 24-26 December
- Free
- Always
- Time
- 2 hours for this route
- Note
- Planned closures: Room 41 in part, 12-23 October 2026; Rooms 4, 6a and 9, 11-22 January 2027; Rooms 6b and 7-8, 8-19 February 2027. Security check at the entrance; no wheeled suitcases or large bags. Entrances on Great Russell Street and Montague Place
- Verified
- October 2026, on the official site. Prices and hours change: check before you go.
Questions
Is the British Museum free?
Yes. Entry to the permanent collection is free; booking a free timed ticket is recommended.
Where is the Rosetta Stone?
In Room 4, the Egyptian sculpture gallery on the ground floor.
What can you see at the British Museum in 1 hour?
Stay on the ground floor: the Rosetta Stone, the Assyrian winged bulls and lion hunt, and the Parthenon sculptures in Room 18.
Is the British Museum open late?
On Fridays, until 20:30, with last entry at 20:15.
Sources
- British Museum, “Visit”, list of available galleries and planned gallery closures (October 2026).
- British Museum, gallery pages for Rooms 4, 6, 7-8, 10, 17, 18, 21, 24, 40, 41, 52, 56, 61 and 62-63.
