大英博物馆中英文简介.doc

British Museum
　　The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects,are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present.
　　The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. The museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the current museum building. Its expansion over the following two and a half centuries was largely a result of an expanding British colonial footprint and has resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, the first being the British Museum (Natural History) in South Kensington in 1887. Some objects in the collection, most notably the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon, are the objects of intense controversy and of calls for restitution to their countries of origin.
　　Until 1997, when the British Library (previously centred on the Round Reading Room) moved to a new site, the British Museum was unique in that it housed both a national museum of antiquities and a national library in the same building. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and as with all other national museums in the United Kingdom it charges no admission fee. Since 2002 the director of the museum has been Neil MacGregor.
　　History
　　Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum
　　Although principally a museum of cultural art objects and antiquities today, the British Museum was founded as a "universal museum". Its foundations lie in the will of the physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753). During the course of his lifetime Sloane gathered an enviable collection of curiosities and, not wishing to see his collection broken up after death, he bequeathed it to King George II, for the nation, for the princely sum of £20,000.
　　At that time, Sloane’s collection consisted of around 71,000 objects of all kinds[8] including some 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural history specimens including 337 volumes of dried plants, prints and drawings including those by Albrecht Dürer and antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Ancient Near and Far East and the Americas.
　　Foundation (1753)On 7 June 1753, King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum.The Foundation Act, added two other libraries to the Sloane collection. The Cottonian Library, assembled by Sir Robert Cotton, dated back to Elizabethan times and the Harleian library, the collection of the Earls of Oxford. They were joined in 1757 by the Royal Library, assembled by various British monarchs. Together these four "foundation collections" included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf.
　　The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public and aiming to collect everything. Sloane's collection, whilst including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary and antiquarian element and meant that the British Museum now became both national museum and library.
　　大英博物馆(British Museum)又称不列颠博物馆，是一位于英国伦敦的综合博物馆，也是世界上规模最大、最著名的博物馆之一，成立于1753年。目前博物馆拥有藏品1300多万件。由于空间的限制，目前还有大批藏品未能公开展出。博物馆在1759年1月15日起正式对公众开放。
　　历史：
　　大英博物馆的渊源最早可追溯到1753年。汉斯·斯隆(Hans Sloane 1660-1753年)爵士是当时的一位著名收藏家，1753年他去世后遗留下来的个人藏品达1700件，还有大批植物标本及书籍、手稿。根据他的遗嘱，所有藏品都捐赠给国家。这些藏品最后被交给了英国国会。在通过公众募款筹集建筑博物馆的资金后，大英博物馆最终于1759年1月15日在伦敦市区附近的蒙塔古大楼(Montague Building)成立并对公众开放。
　　博物馆在开放后通过英国人在各地的各种活动攫取了大批珍贵藏品，早期的大英博物馆倾向于收集自然历史标本，但也有大量文物、书籍，因此吸引了大批参观者。到了19世纪初，蒙塔古大楼已经显得不敷使用了。于是1824年博物馆决定在蒙塔古大楼北面建造一座新馆，并在1840年代完成，旧蒙塔古大楼不久后便被拆除。新馆建成后不久又在院子里建了对公众开放的圆形阅览室。
　　由于空间的限制，1880年大英博物馆将自然历史标本与考古文物分离，大英博物馆专门收集考古文物。1900年，博物馆再次重新划分，将书籍、手稿等内容分离组成新的大英图书馆。
　　简介：
　　大中庭(Great Court)位于大英博物馆中心，于2000年12月建成开放，目前是欧洲最大的有顶广场。广场的顶部是用2436块三角形的玻璃片组成的。广场中央为大英博物馆的阅览室，对公众开放。
　　大英博物馆历史上除了1972年的几个月外，一直都是免费对公众开放。2002年博物馆面临了严重的财政危机，由于馆员抗议裁员，博物馆甚至被迫关闭了几天。几个星期后，一个希腊雕像失窃，主要原因是保安人员的缺乏。
　　大英博物馆阅览室原来属于大英图书馆，但图书馆阅览室已经搬到了图书馆大楼，现在为博物馆的阅览室。
　　大英博物馆目前分为10个分馆：古近东馆、硬币和纪念币馆、埃及馆、民族馆、希腊和罗马馆、日本馆、东方馆、史前及欧洲馆、版画和素描馆以及西亚馆。
　　著名的藏品：
　　著名的藏品埃及罗塞塔石碑(Rosetta Stone，拿破仑在埃及溃败后英国获得的一批埃及文物中最珍贵的一个)
　　雅典帕德嫩神庙的大理石雕刻(1816年获得，希腊人目前要求归还)
　　拉美西斯二世(Ramesses)头像(1818年由英国驻埃及总领事捐献)
　　法老阿孟霍特普三世(Amenhotep)头像(1823年购得)
　　弗兰克斯(Franks)首饰盒(1867年获得)
　　波特兰花瓶(Portland Vase)
　　女史箴图(1860年英法联军火烧圆明园时抢劫)
　　开放信息大英博物馆入场免费。
　　开放时间：
　　博物馆开放时间
　　星期六至星期三：10:00 - 18:00
　　星期四和星期五：10:00 - 20:30
　　广场开放时间
　　星期一：09:00 - 18:00
　　星期二和星期三：09:00 - 21:00
　　星期四至星期六：09:00 - 23:00
　　星期日：09:00 - 21:00
　　地址Great Russell Street
　　London WC1B 3DG
　　乘坐伦敦地铁在 Holborn, Tottenham Court Road, Goodge Street 或罗素广场(Russell Square)下车