You Can Now Browse 4 Million Items in the British Museum’s Online Collection
The British Museum London, with objects such as the Rosetta Stone and Parthenon sculptures in its collection, has taken its place on many wishlists. But like many cultural institutions around the world, the museum is closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While this is bad news for anyone planning to visit the museum in person, it is good news for all of us: amid the closure, the museum expanded its online collection to include nearly 4.5 million items.
How to search for specific objects
Not only are there more items available for your virtual visit, the museum has also redesigned the online search function, making it much easier to find specific items. It even offers suggestions as you type. And with a collection of items spanning two million years of history and prehistory gathered across six continents, the more intuitive search functionality is really helpful. The museum also has search instructions :
Start typing in the search box.
As you type, suggested searches will appear below to help you find what you are looking for.
Select one of the suggestions or press Enter to start the search.
If you want to search for a phrase or sentence, enclose it in quotation marks — for example, “gold plated”.
After performing your search, you will receive a set of results that you can filter to narrow your search and find what you are looking for.
How to view collections virtually
If you don’t have a specific collection or object in mind, you can also take a virtual tour of the museum and walk from room to room exploring over 60 galleries that correspond to the physical location of the museum using Google Street View. In addition, the museum highlights some of its most visited galleries, such as the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery (which houses the Rosetta Stone) and Medieval Europe 1050-1500 Gallery (including Lewis Chessman) – so you can go to the other side and check out the most famous artifacts up close.
There are also two collections that are only available virtually: an exhibition of objects from Oceania and an extensive collection of prints and drawings dating back to the 1400s. If you’re unsure of where to start, or if you want a company to participate in your virtual tour, you can take part in one of a series of curated audio tours available for download on Apple Music and Google Play . Audio tours are available in English, Korean, Chinese, Italian and Spanish.
If you are currently homeschooling your children, you might be interested in the British Museum’s free online learning resources for students aged 3-16. Want to know how Egyptian mummies were made ? There is a lesson for this. Maybe you can find out what the Romans ate and drank and enjoy a Roman-style lunch!
The next time you feel uneasy and want to explore something, the British Museum’s expanded online collection is the perfect way to spend a few hours and learn something along the way.