British Museum

   Founded in 1753 as a national museum of Great Britain to house collections bequeathed to the nation. It was funded by a lottery that allowed the purchase of property in London, now on Great Russell Street. The original building was demolished and rebuilt during the first half of the 19th century. Small Egyptian items were initially part of the collection, but major Egyptian antiquities were acquired in 1802 with the surrender of objects, including the Rosetta Stone, collected by the French invaders of Egypt who were defeated by a combined British and Turkish force. Egyptian holdings then expanded with the purchase of individual collections, including those of Henry Salt in 1823, Joseph Sams in 1834, and Giovanni Anastasi in 1839, as well as items acquired at auction or by donation. The collection was further enhanced by the efforts of the keeper of Egyptian antiquities, E. A. Wallis Budge (1857–1934). Since 1882, the museum has received a share of the objects excavated by the Egypt Exploration Fund/Egypt Exploration Society. Since 1980, the British Museum has conducted its own excavations at Hermopolis and Tell el-Balamun. It houses one of the finest collections of Egyptian antiquities outside the Cairo Egyptian Museum.

   See also Berlin Egyptian Museum; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Louvre Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Turin Egyptian Museum.

Historical Dictionary Of Ancient Egypt by Morris L. Bierbrier