The British Museum through the years - in pictures
The Nineveh Gallery at the British Museum in London in 1852. All photos: Getty Images
The Elgin Room at the British Museum in 1840
The neo-classical exterior of the British Museum in 1865
Filming takes place in the British Museum in 1928
Visitors reading information concerning the Rosetta Stone, from the top of the stone itself, in the Egyptian Gallery in 1932
A man examines a totem pole which was purchased from a village in British Columbia and brought to the museum in 1933
The Reading Room in 1937
'Operation Elgin' is carried out in 1945, when 100 tonnes of priceless Elgin Marbles were moved from their wartime hideout in Aldwych Tube station to the British Museum
Visitors viewing the Parthenon Sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, in the Egyptian Galleries in 1954
A statue of Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II in 1954
Workmen unload a portion of the Parthenon frieze before affixing it to the wall in the new Elgin Marbles room in 1961
The gold death mask of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun on display in 1972
The exterior of the museum in 1980
A frieze which forms part of the Elgin Marbles, taken from the Parthenon in Athens almost 200 years ago, on display in 2002
A Terracotta Warrior statue, wrapped in protective foam, is moved into place in the Reading Room in 2007
An aerial view in 2008
Gardeners from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew prune the foliage in an Indian-themed garden on the west lawn of the British Museum in 2009
Visitors walk in The Great Court of the museum in 2011
The British Museum's new World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre, right, adjoining the original building, in 2014
A basalt Easter Island Head figure, known as Hoa Hakananai'a, on display in 2018
Visitors wearing face masks walk through the Egyptian exhibition as the museum reopened to the public after being closed for 163 days due to Covid lockdowns
Items from a collection of metal plaques and sculptures taken from modern-day Nigeria in 1897, commonly referred to as the Benin Bronzes, are seen in a gallery of African relics in 2023
