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| British Museum. London, 2010. |
One of the mandatory stops when you visit London is the British Museum. The British Museum opened on 1759 and housed both a national museum of antiquities and a national library until the British Library moved to a new site. Also, the British Museum has been criticized for possess artefacts taken from other countries. From the point of view of tourism is an attractive topic because is the most visited UK attraction according to the BBC.
The origins of the British Museum lie in the will of the physician, naturalist and collector, Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753). Sloane collected more than 71,000 objects which he wanted to be preserved intact after his death. He bequeathed the whole collection to King George II for the nation in return for a payment of £20,000 to his heirs. On 7 June 1753, an Act of Parliament established the British Museum.
It is a point of controversy whether museums should be allowed to possess artefacts taken from other countries, and the British Museum is a notable target for criticism. The Elgin Marbles, Benin Bronzes and the Rosetta Stone are among the most disputed objects in its collections, and organisations have been formed demanding the return of these artefacts to their native countries of Greece, Nigeria and Egypt respectively. The British Museum has refused to return these artefacts, stating that the "restitutionist premise, that whatever was made in a country must return to an original geographical site, would empty both the British Museum and the other great museums of the world".
Today the museum no longer houses collections of natural history, and the books and manuscripts it once held now form part of the independent British Library. The Museum nevertheless preserves its universality in its collections of artefacts representing the cultures of the world, ancient and modern. The original 1753 collection has grown to over thirteen million objects at the British Museum, 70 million at the Natural History Museum and 150 million at the British Library.
