258 years of the British Museum

The British Museum opened its doors to visitors 258 years ago this month, on 15 January 1759. The first national public museum in the world, it was - and still is - open to ‘all studious and curious persons’.
To celebrate the anniversary, Director Hartwig Fischer talks about the people who come to the Museum today, and the people who are represented in the collection. At first, the Museum had around 50 visitors a day. Now there are around 15,000 people in the Museum every day, plus half a million who engage online through the website and social media. The conversation has become global - fitting for a museum of the world, for the world.
LINKS:
Twitter: / britishmuseum
Instagram: / britishmuseum
Facebook: / britishmuseum
Blog: british.museumblog.org/
Podcast: www.britishmuseum.libsy...

[@Mikaela_16]

I've been here, and it's beautiful. And it's beautiful because of all those artifacts that should belong in their own countries, am I right?🤨🙄

[@gigi4143]

That's right!!!!

[@AnasMansour-vc2ui]

everything is stolen

[@thomassommer2]

Well, happy birthday :)

[@maximilianpaech1944]

Happy Birthday :-) Beeing there twice and will come back. One of the best places to be !

[@phipsguitar]

Happy birthday British Museum!

[@yakovmatityahu]

I am from India..I would like to visit this museum one day...

[@mariarice4916]

i really hope you get the chance my friend.....you need two days to see everything in this ONE museum.

[@yakovmatityahu]

@@mariarice4916 Thanks for your information it will help me if I get a chance to visit this museum.

[@Global-Netizen]

Claim your country's assets

[@galiusargentum9048]

If you would realize they have a lot of Indian artifacts stolen...

[@yagmurcamd]

Charming beauty,

[@Dementor7665]

I love this museum

[@WabbitHunter68]

My absolute favourite museum. Keep up the good work!

[@chiragsharma5050]

Musisium with no british things

[@schneegeschoss6263]

@@chiragsharma5050 lol

[@Mikaela_16]

@@chiragsharma5050 Fr

[@Mikaela_16]

Keep up the good work is like saying keep stealing stuff from other countries lmaoo

[@malopephasha5341]

@@chiragsharma5050 there are no British things or European things in the museum??? Have u have been to that museum

[@inessamaria2428]

I would like to visit it one day.

[@Pablo260492]

I ❤ LONDON

[@lavarballgoat8981]

Been here during my London trip, absolutely loved it. In fact, London's museums are generally so good compared to those we have here in Germany.

[@notyourbiz235]

I live in Germany but I find the British Museum and some others much better because of their availability for everyone. Except some extra shows , presentations and exhibitions that cost some money, one can visit many " rooms" really free of charge unlike in Germany !!

[@galiusargentum9048]

Because the British have stolen all the artifacts from the whole world and put them in their museums. That's why those British museums are so "great". It's so sad.

[@georgedeng8646]

Because they stole more than the Germans

[@BakSpiro]

How ironic, the narrator just resigned for not being able to keep the stolen loot, from getting stolen!

[@belladabrera5975]

Now he has pushed Sir Hans of the pedestal.

[@EvangelosPapaioannou]

Is there anything British in the ''British'' museum?

[@Mikaela_16]

Honestly

[@CoasterRemote]

There’s some Anglo Saxon shit in there.

[@user-bs5oy2uk7e]

هذا المتحف رائع وجميل جدااااااااااا

[@khalidsaiffullah7491]

Very beautiful Chor Bazaar 😍

[@udarithinaka6916]

❤️

[@amritroyrajbonshi9304]

Very beautiful thief market... Great🎉

[@lourdesevaristo1428]

DEVUELVAN EL MOAI. 🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿

[@haldanandpako2755]

The British museum is a lot like British cuisine: mostly stolen from other cultures but still somehow bland as hell and colder than Queen Elizabeth II.

[@Mikaela_16]

FAX

[@malopephasha5341]

@@Mikaela_16 cringe

[@malopephasha5341]

Brirish museum is one of the most beautiful museums on this planet

[@Mikaela_16]

@@malopephasha5341 r u british lmao

[@Mikaela_16]

@@malopephasha5341 Because most of the things on display are from other countries i would sayy

[@refoliation]

Pirate island treasure horde.

[@mscott3918]

Now the bust of Sloane is in a cabinet because, despite his great collection being the basis of the museum, his wife's family owned slaves and he must be shamed. Perhaps someone should tell the German director of this great institution that Germany's history on slavery went through to the 1940s, and would he not be better explaining that as head of a museum in Berlin?

[@Britannia7]

Great museum from our Great Imperial Empire 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@Global-Netizen]

Shameless looters still exist

[@amritroyrajbonshi9304]

Thief Market... 🎉

[@Britannia7]

@@amritroyrajbonshi9304 We civilized India 🇬🇧

[@Autocaniball]

@@Britannia7 explain how britain civilized india

[@Britannia7]

@@Autocaniball we abolished saiti. You burnt women alive when their husbands died whether they liked it not. We put a stop to it. Savages. 🇬🇧

[@TXMEDRGR]

Most of these things would be lost if not for the British preserving it for future generations. The trolls on this site should be grateful they saved these priceless objects.

[@Amernikov]

Nope, the brits can only steal other peoples culture because they dont have any

[@MrJoeyWheeler]

There's a lot of idiots who don't understand the fact that it was Britain that invented archaeology and preservation movements. Or the fact that Britain owned a third of the world.

[@haldanandpako2755]

Saved the same way the Roman Empire fought wars of “self-defense” 1,000 miles away from their borders against people who didn’t even know what Rome was.

[@Mikaela_16]

Just because they preserved it doesn't mean it's okay to steal it from where it was. I think it's better for it to be lost in its own country rather than be used by another country, so they get more visitors... Besides, how can we tell whether it would have gotten lost or not? You never know

[@refoliation]

“We got it out of a war zone we created!” Bandit.

[@reyandin]

260

[@Global-Netizen]

If Britain have a little bit of shame left, they should acknowledgement what their empire was, and should return the stolen items to their respective owners.

[@garythefishable]

But then we would need to travel all around the world to see these historic artifacts. To have them all in one place is something we take granted.

[@alvin7898]

Lets just call it as “looters museum”

[@renzolongoni5102]

like si estas por tarea v:

[@binilmb7343]

Is he ashamed to be the director

[@georgedeng8646]

258 years of stealing

[@turnnexg6398]

The Loot Museum

[@doffy2192]

Africa🤡

[@gatzilla7170]

Тут есть русские?

[@gatzilla7170]

Нету

[@stendoferolexsandr1720]

ХТО З 7-Ь

[@tibetsonamdopo627]

A legal chor bazar

[@punitkumar3943]

That's not a museum that's a crime scene

[@doffy2192]

🤡🤡🤡

[@BakSpiro]

So sad to see that a British gentleman Is explaining why we should visit a place that displays the theft of all other cultures treasures.

[@dawncleethorpes2342]

He's not British, he is German

[@refoliation]

When you get so hyper British you become French and German

[@gigi4143]

For real

[@atyanthdutt6632]

"British" museum with nothing British in it. Love the irony.

[@-pratiksha]

well said.

[@hugocampbell9209]

There is the Sutton hoo helmet that’s British

[@BakSpiro]

While I love my queen, because I am Canadian, I promised myself that I will never visit England because of this museum. Can't stand the thought of a country hosting the "theft display". For 60 years I kept my promise.

[@andrewmedeiros9493]

No one asked

[@RollaArtis]

I'm glad you're not coming because there are too many people trying to get in to see the amazing collections which have been acquired and preserved by educated people.

[@BakSpiro]

@@RollaArtis Thank you for your comment. As far as your observation, no matter if you are educated, taking/harboring stolen artifacts doesn’t mean you are not a thief or accessory. For the Parthenon Marbles, I will make two brief points as per your commentary: The Marbles were taken away when Greece was under occupation by the Ottoman Empire, essentially looted by your “educated” Lord Elgin, who damaged a great deal of them. Secondly, restoration efforts by the British Museum, “to make the marbles whiter”, damaged them further instead of “preserving” them. Again thank you for your comment and wish you the best! Note: I had the chance to read your message before it was audited, I would like to say the following: Have no fear my dear, I will have the opportunity to see them in their birth place.

[@BakSpiro]

@@andrewmedeiros9493 It bothered you I guess, that’s why you took the time to reply. Thank you anyway, any comment is valuable.

[@RollaArtis]

@@BakSpiro 'Everything is stolen' is a crude and ignorant trope. Concerning the Elgin marbles, for hundreds of years the Acropolis was always great source of building materials for the local population. In addition, the marble was also recycled by burning it which made lime for the mortar. This is the obvious reason why Lord Elgin went to all the trouble of removing them for posterity.

[@saptakbanerjee6495]

Chor Bazaar

[@strawmanthefinalretrogames7287]

return the moai

[@doffy2192]

Return to china

[@blissmartinez4185]

Too bad most of it is stolen

[@Joshpox]

The vast majority of artifacts in the museum are British, over 60%

[@foluludv4041]

⁠🤡🤡

[@__-wc5zn]

Give us our stuff back.

[@angeladiane5026]

Who are you anyway?

[@foluludv4041]

@@angeladiane5026the rightful owner of the artefacts

[@no_one_of_that_name_here]

Wonderful museum, sadly filled by thievery.

[@fanofyoutubers9792]

no_one_of_that_name_here preserved

[@no_one_of_that_name_here]

@@fanofyoutubers9792 😐 I'm happy it's preserved; that's why I called it a wonderful museum.

[@TodayFreedom]

Grow up.

[@no_one_of_that_name_here]

@@TodayFreedom which way should I grow?

[@Mikaela_16]

@@TodayFreedom oh so you want them to accept it and move on though its wrong? funny that your username is TodayFREEDOM lol

[@IwanSetiawan-dv1wl]

An active crime scene. Looters

[@tinku067]

Aah good old colonial plunder, how sweet of them to keep these remembrances. Not like the descendants are to be blamed but come in they can do better.

[@atyanthdutt6632]

So this is where the marauders display their loot

[@raghuyadav5616]

Museum for looted things 😍😍😘 take a bow thieves

[@bangtidybird8284]

RAG DUDE nonce

[@fanofyoutubers9792]

raghu yadav dedicated to human history art and culture... well maintained otherwise would be destroyed forever

[@anindyabagchi27]

Imagine if they were to return artifacts to the colonies. The whole damned thing would be practically empty.

[@anindyabagchi27]

@@fanofyoutubers9792 that is what you tell yourselves?

[@TodayFreedom]

Like every museum in modern India- filled with items stolen by warring maharajahs who invaded other Indian states and STOLE whatever they wanted.

[@shubhamswaraj1557]

Thieves

[@doffy2192]

😂indian

[@chiragsharma5050]

Looters musium

[@doffy2192]

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

[@saumyasaurav159]

Return the Loot. shameless pigs.

[@doffy2192]

No indian