The British Museum Great Court: The Glass Canopy of Antiquity
Why is it significant?
Step through the monumental Ionic colonnade on Great Russell Street into the dazzling, sun-flooded expanse of the Queen Elizabeth the Second Great Court.
Key Facts
| Place | The British Museum Great Court: The Glass Canopy of Antiquity |
|---|---|
| Address | Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG, United Kingdom |
| Geo Coordinates | 51.51940, -0.12700 |
| Audio Duration | ~1 min |
| Part of Walk | Literary Bloomsbury & The British Museum: Rosetta Stone to Virginia Woolf |
| Generated | Generated |
Step through the monumental Ionic colonnade on Great Russell Street into the dazzling, sun-flooded expanse of the Queen Elizabeth the Second Great Court. Look up at the soaring canopy above you: three thousand three hundred and twelve triangular glass panes form a weightless geodesic web designed by Norman Foster, encircling the historic circular Round Reading Room. Founded in seventeen fifty-three based on the eclectic collection of physician Sir Hans Sloane, this was the world's very first national public museum, dedicated from its inception to being completely free to all studious and curious persons. Under the copper dome of the Reading Room, Karl Marx penned Das Kapital, while Virginia Woolf, Mahatma Gandhi, and George Orwell studied under its quiet glow. Just off the court in Room Four stands the Rosetta Stone, the broken slab of dark granodiorite inscribed in three ancient scripts that in eighteen twenty-two unlocked the secret of Egyptian hieroglyphs after fourteen centuries of silence. Exit into the fresh London air and stroll north toward the leafy plane trees of Russell Square.