Controversies aside, this remains one of the greatest museums on Earth

Seven wonders of the British Museum, London

Containing vast collections of treasures from the ancient world, the British Museum in London is a prodigious source of education and wow moments.

The museum’s Great Court.

Enter the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos

The Mausoleum of Halikarnassos – the giant ornamental tomb created for King Maussollos of Karia, south-west Turkey – was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world.

These days, significant sections of the 40-metre-tall, 2300-year-old mausoleum are inside Room 21 of the British Museum. These include the Amazon frieze, depicting Herakles and Theseus battling with the Amazon women, the massive statue of Maussollos and – most photo-friendly of all – one of the giant marble horses from the tomb roof.

Say hi to Ramesses II

Face of the ancients… statue of Ramesses II.Credit:

For many visitors, the Egyptian collection is the British Museum’s highlight. There are several rooms of mummies on the first floor, but the most striking single piece is the partially damaged 2.7-metre statue of Pharoah Ramesses II in Room 4. Originally from the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses II in Thebes, where the lower part of the statue is still in situ, this grey-pink granite behemoth was carved from one block of stone, then transported on sleds overland before being taken on a purpose-built boat along the River Nile.

Gain enlightenment from the Rosetta Stone

The unassuming Rosetta Stone changed world history.Credit:

The most important item in the Egyptian collection, however, is the Rosetta Stone. Discovered in 1799 by Napoleon’s invading army, the stone was originally part of a stela recording a priest’s decree in 196BC. Crucially, the decree was written in three languages – Greek, the everyday Demotic script and the sacred hieroglyphics. This proved to be the key to translating hieroglyphics, making sense of monuments and temples across the land and unlocking thousands of years of ancient Egyptian history.

Hang out with Hoa Hakananai’a

Hoa Hakananai’a... the people of Rapa Nui want it back.Credit:

The Living and Dying section of the museum includes some striking hollow log coffins from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, but the giant centrepiece is Hoa Hakananai’a – one of the stone moai from Rapa Nui (Easter Island). It’s unusual in that it’s made from basalt rather than softer volcanic rock, and is thought to be one of the most spiritually important moai. Signage explains the moai were raised in honour of important deified ancestors and embodied their spirits. Unsurprisingly, the people of Rapa Nui want it back.

Understand the Parthenon Sculptures

Sculptures that form part of the Parthenon Marbles, in the British Museum.Credit: Getty Images

The Greeks, not unjustifiably, think the Parthenon Sculptures should be back in Athens. Nevertheless, the extraordinary artworks that once adorned the largest Greek temple ever created are organised as they would have been before the Ottomans severely damaged the Parthenon in 1687. Signs explain the stories told on the friezes and pediments – such as the drunken centaurs trying to kidnap the Lapith women at a wedding – and explore the artistry of the Gods on the West Pediment being arranged in different poses to fit the triangle shape.

Gaze up at the Great Court roof

The Lion of Knidos in the Great Court.

It’s not just the artefact collection that makes the British Museum spectacular – the architecture does too. The building is a neoclassical masterpiece, but the hub is the Great Court. Opened in the year 2000, after a radical redesign by Norman Foster, it comes with a mesmerising glass roof of endlessly overlapping arcs. There’s plenty on display under that roof, too – including the seven-tonne Lion of Knidos taken from a 2200-year-old clifftop tomb in Turkey, and Haida totem poles from Canada.

Fall in love with the Lewis Chessmen

Small wonders… Lewis chess set.Credit:

Not every wonder in the British Museum is giant. The Lewis Chessmen are small and almost cartoonishly pudgy but symbolic of how games and ideas spread across the world. Carved from walrus ivory in the 12th century, probably in Norway, these 78 personality-packed chess pieces were found on the Scottish island of Lewis – one of the furthest outposts of the medieval world. The rooks are the most distinctive – biting their shield like berserkers in a Norse saga.

See Britishmuseum.org.

The writer was a guest of Visit Britain. See (VisitBritain.com)