Presentation of:"British museum".

1
Presentation of"British museum".
2
History

1. Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum.
2. Foundation (1753).
3. Growth and change (1800-25).
4. New century, new building (1900-25)

3
Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum

• Though principally a museum of cultural art
  objects and antiquities today, the British Museum
  was founded as a "universal museum". Its
  foundations lie in the will of the physician and
  naturalist Sir Hans Sloane (16601753). During
  the course of his lifetime Sloane gathered an
  enviable collection of curiosities and, not
  wishing to see his collection broken up after
  death, he bequeathed it to King George II, for
  the nation, for the princely sum of 20,000.

4
Foundation (1753)

• On 7 June 1753, King George II gave his formal
  assent to the Act of Parliament which established
  the British Museum. 

5
Growth and change (1800-25)

• In the early 19th century the foundations for the
  extensive collection of sculpture began to be
  laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts
  dominated the antiquities displays. After the
  defeat of the French Campaign in the Battle of
  the Nile, in 1801, the British Museum acquired
  more Egyptian sculpture and in 1802 King George
  III presented the Rosetta Stone key to the
  deciphering of hieroglyphs.

6
New century, new building (1900-25)
By the last years of the nineteenth century, The
British Museum's collections had increased so
much that the Museum building was no longer big
enough for them.
All the while, the collections kept growing.