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  The British Museum London
The British Museum opened its doors to public on 15 January 1759. The museum owes its origin to Sir Hans Sloane, who in his will stating that his valuable collection of over 71,000 objects, library and herbarium to be preserved intact after his death. He entrusted his collection to King Gorge II and requested a payment of pounds twenty thousand to his heirs for the same. The museum has grown from its starting days to Seven million objects as of current date and is amongst the greatest, largest, in-depth and comprehensive in the world showcasing the cultures of the world, ancient and modern.
The museum is actually a temple of world culture and arts, with items from all corners of the globe showcasing different civilizations thus a dedication to mankind. Over the year the museum has added different artifacts to its treasure. The first famous antiquities came from the Greek vase collection of Sir William Hamilton's in 1772 which was followed by Rosetta Stone and other Egyptian antiquities in 1802, in 1805 the museum added the Townley collection of classical sculptures and in 1816 Elgin Marbles were added.
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The museum has also been part of excavations across the globe, which has also lead to addition of new items to its collection.The Museum has the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts second only to Egyptian Museum at Cairo. In 2001 Fred Wendorf a Professor at Southern Methodist University, Texas donated the Wendorf Collection of Egyptian and Sudanese Prehistory to the museum.
Some of the Key exhibits are:
The Rosetta Stone, Colossal bust of Ramesses II, Colossal granite head of Amenhotep III , Colossal head from a statue of Amenhotep III, Colossal limestone bust of Amenhotep III, Fragment of the beard of the Great Sphinx, List of the kings of Egypt from the Temple of Ramesses II (1250 BC), Granite statue of Senwosret III, Cleopatra's Mummy, Amarna tablets, Obelisk of Pharaoh Nectanebo II, The Parthenon Marbles, Erechtheion, Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, Temple of Artemis at Ephesos, Material from the Palace of Knossos, Buddhist limestone reliefs from Amaravati, sculpture The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, sculpture of Pair of Human Headed 'Lamassu' Lions, Buddhist paintings from Dunhuang and the Admonitions Scroll by Chinese artist Gu Kaizh to name a few…
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