The majority of objects from the continent of Africa are held by the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA), the Department of Ancient Egypt and the Sudan (AES) and the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;).

The collections comprises over 200,000 objects and encompasses both archeological and contemporary material, which includes both unique masterpieces of artistry and objects of everyday life. Highlights of the collection include a magnificent brass head of a Yoruba ruler from Ife, Nigeria; Asante goldwork from Ghana and the Torday collection of Central African sculpture, textiles and weaponry.

Coins, medals and paper money from Africa are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from early colonial currencies to coins and banknotes from independent African nations.

Galleries

The Sainsbury African Galleries (Room 25) provides a substantial and permanent exhibition space for one of the finest collections of African art and artefacts in the world.Money Gallery (Room 68)

Objects From Africa On The British Museum Website

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA) holds a small collection of around 600 ethnographic objects from rural and urban Algeria dating from the nineteenth century to the present day: textiles, including rural Berber flat weaves and clothing, looms, urban silk textiles; unglazed domestic pottery; Berber and Tuareg jewelley; weapons; leatherwork; agricultural equipment; contemporary art, including silk hangings, metal sculptures, glazed ceramic bowl.

Coins, medals and paper money from Algeria are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from 2000-year-old Numidian and Mauretanian coins to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Objects From Algeria On The British Museum Website

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA) holds a collection of around 9,000 objects from the modern Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly the Belgian Congo). A series of fieldwork expeditions made in the early 20th century by the Hungarian ethnographer, Emil Torday, resulted in the formation of a collection of over 3,000 objects, including superb wooden sculpture, most notably three king figures, as well as carved bowls, boxes, cups, other figures and masks; raphia textiles; unglazed pottery and weapons.

Coins, medals and paper money from Congo are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from early colonial currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Objects From The Congo On The British Museum Website

The Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan (AES) has the largest and most comprehensive collection of its kind outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It illustrates every aspect of ancient Egyptian civilisation (including Nubia) from the Predynastic period through to the Coptic (Christian) period, a time-span of nearly 6,000 years from the fifth millennium BC to the twelfth century AD.

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas holds a collection of around 950 ethnographic objects from urban and rural Egypt dating from the nineteenth century to the present day. The collections include pottery, unglazed domestic and burnished red and black ware, weapons, musical instruments, animal trappings, amulets, jewellery, smoking pipes, cosmetic and toilet equipment, domestic and agricultural equipment. Notable collections include that of Edward William Lane and Winifred Blackman. There are small but important collections from Siwa Oasis and contemporary material from the Western Oases including costumes and jewellery. Contemporary art.

Coins, medals and paper money from Egypt are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the earliest currencies used in the area to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Galleries

The Egyptian Sculpture Gallery (Room 4)

Understanding Ancient Egyptian Culture (Room 61)

Egyptian Funerary Archaeology ( Rooms 62-63)

Early Egypt (Room 64)

Egypt and Africa (Room 65)

Coptic Egypt (Room 66)

Money Gallery (68)

Objects From Egypt On The British Museum Website

The British Museum's Ancient Egypt website

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA) holds a small collection of Eritrean material includes archeological material, arms and armour, pottery and paintings.

Coins, medals and paper money from Eritrea are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the earliest currencies used in the area to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Object From Eritrea On The British Museum Website

The department of Africa, Oceania and the America (AOA) holds a collection of around 1450 objects from Ethiopia, including early archeological material, religious and secular paintings, ceramics, basketery, arms and armour, textiles and personal ornaments from the many peoples of Ethiopia.

Coins, medals and paper money from Ethiopia are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the coins of Axum to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Objects From Ethiopia On The British Museum Website

The The department of Africa, Oceania and the America (AOA) holds a collection of some 8,000 objects from Ghana, dating primarily from the 18th century to the present day. Highlights include the collection of Asante gold, comprising regalia, jewellery, swords and sword ornaments, kra discs and helmets; wooden sculpture, including stools, game boards, masks and figures; unglazed domestic pottery; terracotta funerary sculpture; metalwork, including weapons, brass vessels and goldweights; jewellery; textiles, including kente and ewe cloths; recycled objects; toys; contemporary art, notably fantasy coffins.

Coins, medals and paper money from Ghana are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from early colonial currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Objects From Ghana On The British Museum Website

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA) holds a substantial collection of over 3000 objects from Kenya, including arms and armour, woodcarving, pottery, contemporary printed textiles and important works by the artist Magdalene Odundo.

Coins, medals and paper money from Kenya are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from early colonial currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Objects From Kenya On The British Museum Website

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA) holds a small collection of around 600 ethnographic objects from Morocco dating from the nineteenth century to the present day: textiles, including rural Berber flat weaves and clothing, looms, Arab tent and contents, urban Jewish wedding costume; Berber and Arab jewellery; pottery, including unglazed domestic Berber pottery and glazed urban wares; pipes; weapons; musical instruments; agricultural equipment; contemporary art.

Coins, medals and paper money from Morocco are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from early currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Objects From Morocco On The British Museum Website

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA) holds a superb collection of objects from the city of Benin dating from the 15th to the 19th century. It comprises brass and bronze castings, including heads, animal and human figures, altars, plaques and regalia as well as carved ivory tusks, saltcellars and jewellery. There are also notable examples of earlier metal casting traditions from Igbo-Ukwu (9th–10th century), Ife (12th-15th century), and finds from undated sites around southern Nigeria. In addition there are around 10,000 ethnographic objects from Nigeria dating from the 19th century to the present day. This collection includes unglazed ritual and domestic pottery; wood sculpture; masks; leatherwork; textiles and clothing; metalwork including weapons, ritual equipment and domestic utensils.

Coins, medals and paper money from Nigeria are among held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from early colonial currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Objects From Nigeria On The British Museum Website

The department of Africa, Oceania and the America holds the Museum’s collection of over 900+ Somali objects, including arms and armour, woodcarving (headrests, combs etc), basketry and pottery.

Coins, medals and paper money from Somalia are held by the Department of Coins and Medals, from the earliest currencies used in the area to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries. However, none are as yet online.

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA) holds a collection of over 5000 objects from South Africa, including arms and armour, woodcarving (figures, staffs, headrests etc.) with an emphasis on Zulu artefacts, particularly the documented collections of Zulu beadwork and other items of personal adornment assembled by Prof. Frank Jolles.

Coins, medals and paper money from South Africa are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from early colonial currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

South African Objects On The British Museum Website

The Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan (AES) holds a substantial collection of archaeological material from Sudan including very large numbers of lithics, textiles, pottery sherds and complete vessels and small finds as well as an ever-increasing collection of human skeletal material dating from all periods from the Palaeolithic up to the medieval periods. There is also a small but important collection of monumental stone objects, reliefs and inscriptions.

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA) holds a collection of 3600 ethnographic objects from Sudan, including arms and armour, textiles, basketry, ceramics, personal ornaments, and both ceremonial and domestic artefacts.

Coins, medals and paper money from Sudan are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from Ottoman coins to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Sudanese Objects On The British Museum Website

British Museum Online Tour: Sudan Past And Present

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA) holds a substantial collection of over 2000 objects from Uganda, including arms and armour, woodcarving, royal pottery and barkcloth from the Buganda kingdom. The world-famous ceramic Luzira head and associated pieces date to the late first or early second millennium AD.

Coins, medals and paper money from Uganda are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from early colonial currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA) holds a collection of over 900 objects, including pottery, arms and armour, woodcarving (headrests in particular). It includes the unique collection of modern Shona stone sculpture assembled by Frank McEwen.

Coins, medals and paper money from Zimbabwe are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from early colonial currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Objects From Zimbabwe On The British Museum Website

The Department of Asia holds collections covering the material remains of the whole Asian continent from the Neolithic up to the present day. Key areas of the collections include the most comprehensive collection of sculpture from the Indian subcontinent in the world as well as one of the most comprehensive collections of Japanese material culture in Europe.

Coins, medals and paper money from Asia are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the earliest currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries

Near Eastern archaeology before Islam is covered by the Department of the Ancient Near East (ANE) and pre-Neolithic material in the Department of Prehistory and Europe (P&E;).

Galleries

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Objects From Asia On The British Museum Website

The British Museum does not hold a large number of objects identified as Bangladeshi because the country is relatively young and most of the material held by the museum was collected whilst it was still part of India. You can see objects relating to Mughal India (1526 - 1828) and Islamic India in the Islamic Galleries at the back of the British Museum building. Objects on show include glass, porcelain and several daggers. The displays give a short history of the Muslim presence in India.

The British Museum's holdings that do come from Bangladesh tend to be older Hindu or Buddhist pieces. One recent acquisition is this brightly coloured 20th century rickshaw.

Coins, medals and paper money from Bangladesh are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the earliest currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Object From Bangladesh On The British Museum Website

The Museum’s Department of Asia holds the Museum’s collection of around 23,000 Chinese artefacts, which covers the whole range of Chinese art and spans the entire span of the country’s history. It includes about 5,000 prints and drawings, 900 jades, 3,000 bronzes, 8,000 ceramics and about 500 decorative art objects. Among the most notable objects are two famous inscribed Western Zhou (1050-770 BC) bronzes, the Admonitions Scroll and the silk paintings and other treasures from Dunhuang and Central Asia.

Coins, medals and paper money from China are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), including the earliest Chinese coins, coin-shaped amulets, hell money, and a a fine collection of Mao badges.

Galleries

The Joseph E Hotung Gallery: China, South & Southeast Asia (Room 33)

Chinese Jade (Room 33b)

Money Gallery (Room 68)

The British Museum's Early Imperial China website

Objects From China On The British Museum Website

The Museum’s collection of around 170 objects from the Philippines largely comprises 20th-century coins and banknotes, held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;). The Department of Asia holds a few ethnographic items.

Coins, medals and paper money from the Philippines are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the earliest currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Galleries

Money Gallery (Room 68)

The Museum’s Department of Asia holds the Museum’s collection of art and archaeology from the Indian subcontinent. Much of what is on display focuses on the religious history of the subcontinent, including many Buddhist and Hindu statues - whilst displays on Muslim India can be found in the Islamic galleries at the back of the building.

Coins, medals and paper money from India are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the earliest punch-marked coins, to colonial currencies, and the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Galleries

The Joseph E Hotung Gallery: China, South & Southeast Asia (Room 33)

Amaravati Sculpture (Room 33a)

Money Gallery (Room 68)

The British Museum's Ancient India website

The British Museum's Mughal India website

There are around 1,500 Japanese objects in the ethnographic colelctions of the British Museum including ceramics, metalwork, basketwork, lacquer ware, textiles and costume. The majority of the collections relate to everyday life and include many objects acquired by missionaries who travelled to Japan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There are Ainu objects from John Anderson who travelled to Hokkaido in the 1880s and further Ainu material from Dr Neil Gordon Munro, a physician who lived and worked in Hokkaido between 1930 and 1942. There is also an interesting collection of tourist ephemera, notably that which was collected on a special visit in 2001 by a curator from the department. See "Collecting souvenirs in Japan: a diary" (in the second link below)

In the department of Asia there are nearly 30,000 Japanese objects including archeological material, the arts of Buddhism and Shinto, paintings and woodblock prints, woodblock-printed books, swords and armour, metalwork (including a large collection of sword-fittings), lacquer, pottery and porcelain and sculptural and carved works in different media (including a large collection of netsuke). There is also a little-documented collection of textiles, mostly everyday wear from the 1920s to the 1950s.

There are around 4,500 Japanese paintings in the Museum, including many fine pieces from the Kamakura period and later. The collection of ukiyoe prints and paintings numbers about 7,000 and includes works by all the important artists.

Archeological material includes a significant group of 366 objects from the Kofun period collected in Japan by William Gowland (1842 - 1927). The pre-Meiji period ceramics collection includes many fine pieces of tea ceremony ware, and fine export porcelain of the 17th century and later. There are also very good examples of early lacquer in the collection.

An important gift was the private collection of rare ritual masks donated by Mr Nobutaka Oka in 1999. The gift from Mr Shibata Akihiko of around 500 pieces of domestic-style porcelain from the Edo period makes the collection the most comprehensive outside Japan. The above is a shortened version of the British Museum entry in Gregory Irvine's 'Guide to Japanese Art Collections in the UK' available from the Japan Society or booksellers.

Coins, medals and paper money from Japan are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the earliest currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The Japanese and Asia departments' exhibition spaces in Rooms 91 – 94 are closed for renovation until summer 2006.

Objects From Japan On The British Museum Website

Follow Tours Of Japanese Objects In The British Museum Online

The Museum’s Department of Asia holds the Museum’s collection of art and archaeology from Pakistan.

Coins, medals and paper money from Pakistan are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the earliest currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Galleries

The Joseph E Hotung Gallery: China, South & Southeast Asia (Room 33)

Objects From Pakistan On The British Museum Website

The Museum’s Department of Asia holds the Museum’s collection of art and archaeology from Sri Lanka.

Coins, medals and paper money from Sri Lanka are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;) from the earliest currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Galleries

The Joseph E Hotung Gallery: China, South & Southeast Asia (Room 33)

Objects From Sri Lanka On The British Museum Website

The Department of Asia holds the Museum's collection of over 300 objects. Particularly notable are the 140 images of the Vietnam War (drawings, paintings, prints and posters:probably the largest group in any public collection outside Vietnam). About half the Vietnamese material is ceramics, largely 15th and 16th century.

Coins, medals and paper money from Vietnam are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the earliest currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Galleries

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Objects From Vietnam On The British Museum Website

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA) holds the Museum’s collection of around 600 objects from the Caribbean objects. These include many significant ethnographic objects and archaeological finds of indigenous Carib/Arawak manufacture. Among them are rare examples of Taino wood sculpture, stone tools and weapons, as well domestic objects and fishing equipment, ceramic remains and a range of ritual paraphernalia.

Coins, medals and paper money from the Caribbean are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the earliest currencies used in the area to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas holds the Museum’s collection of Central & South American objects

Coins, medals and paper money from the countries of Central & South America are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), including early colonial currencies and the coins and paper money of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Galleries

Mexico (Room 27)

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Objects From South America On The British Museum Website

The Department of the Ancient Near East (ANE) covers the ancient civilisations of the Near East from the Neolithic period until the arrival of Islam in the 7th century AD. There is a wide range of archaeological material and ancient art from Mesopotamia (Iraq); Iran; the Levant (Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel); Anatolia (Turkey); Arabia; Central Asia and the Caucasus. Highlights of the collection include Assyrian reliefs, treasure from the Royal Cemetery of Ur, the Oxus Treasure, Phoenician ivories and the library of cuneiform tablets from Nineveh.

Coins, medals and paper money from the Near and Middle East are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), including the earliest Islamic coins and the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Galleries

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Coins, medals and paper money from Afghanistan are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the earliest currencies to the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

More details on other material in the Afghani collection will be added shortly.

Objects From Afghanistan On The British Museum Website

The Department of the Ancient Near East (ANE) holds a collection of over 13,000 objects from Iran and dating from the 5th millennium BC to the Islamic period. Highlights of the collection include prehistoric pottery from Aurel Stein's surveys, the Oxus Treasure, Persepolis sculptures and historic casts, Parthian and Sasanian silver bowls. Other important collections include prehistoric seals and other items collected by Ernst Herzfeld, a large collection of 'Luristan bronzes', Iron Age pottery from northern Iran, and seals of particularly the Achaemenid and Sasanian periods

Coins, medals and paper money from Iran are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), including Persian and Sasanian coins, early Islamic coins, and the currencies of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Galleries

The Gallery for Ancient Iran (Room 52) highlights the Museum's collections which broadly cover the periods from the late neolithic to the Arab Conquest (fifth millennium BC - seventh century AD). The most important area of the collection relates to the Achaemenid period (sixth-fourth centuries BC).

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Iran before Islam (Room 69a, June 2005 - January 2006)

Objects From Iran On The British Museum Website

Read More About The Irvani Gallery Of Ancient Iran

There are only a very few Kurdish items documented in the British Museum, and none of these are on display. They include 11 items of clothing from Iraq which were transferred from The Victoria and Albert Museum in 1967, as was a pair of trousers from Iran, donated the following year. There is also a veil from Turkey, and two spindle whorls from Iran.

In Gallery 56 of the museum, which covers early Mesopotamia, you can see stone statuettes from what is now the Kurdish region of North Iraq.

The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas holds the Museum’s collection of around 23,000 Native North American artefacts, including items brought to London over four centuries of visits by Native Americans - from Pochontas onwards, through the Native New Yorkers of 1710, the Cherokees of 1762, Buffalo Bill in 1887, and more recently Lakota consultants who have worked with exhibitions in the Museum.

Works on paper by artists from North America are held by the Department of Prints and Drawings (P&D;). These include one of the best collection of 20th century prints from the United States outside the US itself. An exhibition 'Ash-Can to Pollock' will be held at the end of 2007.

Coins, medals and paper money from the countries of North America are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), including rare early American coins and banknotes, modern medals and political badges.

Galleries

The JP Morgan Chase Gallery of North America (Room 26)

Europe and America: The 20th Century (Room 48)

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Objects From North America On The British Museum Website

The Department of Prehistory and Europe (P&E;) holds the Museum’s collections of art and archaeology of Europe from the earliest times to the present day.

The Department of Prints and Drawings (P&D;) has a representative collection of works by French artists. Strongest in the 19th century, but from earlier centuries it holds major groups of drawings by Claude Lorrain and Watteau. There will be a survey exhibition of Fench drawings dating from 1500-1900 in the British Museum in 2006.

Coins, medals and paper money from France are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from 2000-year-old Celtic coins, to revolutionary assignats, 19th- and 20th- century art medals and the Euro.

Galleries

Europe 15th to 18th Centuries (Room 46)

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Objects From France On The British Museum Website

The Department of Prehistory and Europe (P&E;) holds the Museum’s collections of art and archaeology of Europe from the earliest times to the present day.

The Department of Prints and Drawings (P&D;) has one of the best collections outside Germany of works on paper by German artists, with particular strengths in the Gothic and Renaissance periods.

Coins, medals and paper money from Germany are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from 2000-year-old Roman coins, to Renaissance medals, beautiful early modern silver thalers, 20th-century notgeld, and the Euro.

Galleries

Europe 15th to 18th Centuries (Room 46)

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Objects From Germany On The British Museum Website

The Museum's Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities (GR) holds one of the largest collections of Cypriot antiquities outside Cyprus itself, with some 5000 objects ranging in date from the third millennium BC to the fourth century AD. Particular strengths include Late Bronze Age material, with a range of pottery, gold jewellery, bronzes, faience, ivory, stone items and glass. The extensive collection of Archaic sculpture, mostly of limestone, is also particularly fine.

Coins, medals and paper money from Cyprus are held by the Department of Coins and Medals.

Galleries

The A. G. Leventis Gallery of Cypriot Antiquities (Room 72) contains objects made or found in Cyprus, ranging in date between about 4500 BC and AD 330. They illustrate Cypriot culture and civilisation from the earliest times to the end of the Roman period.

Objects From Cyprus On The British Museum Website

The Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities (GR) covers the Greek world from the beginning of the Bronze Age in about 3200 BC, with material from the Greek mainland and islands, from Cyprus, from Asia Minor (including particularly material from Lykia and Caria), from Egypt and from the Italian peninsula.

Coins, medals and paper money from Greece are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the earliest Greek coins to the Euro.

Galleries

The Cyclades in the Bronze Age (Room 11 )

Greek Bronze Age (Room 12)

Geometric and Archaic Greece (Room 13)

Geometric and Archaic Greece (Room 14)

Greece: 5th Century BC (Room 15)

Bassae Sculpture (Room 16)

The Parthenon Galleries (Room 18)

Greece: The Acropolis and Late 5th Century BC (Room 19)

Greece: 4th Century BC and the Payava Tomb (Room 20)

Later Greek vases (Room 20a)

The Hellenistic World (Room 22)

Greek and Roman Sculpture (Room 23)

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Life in Ancient Greece and Rome (Room 69)

Greek and Roman architecture (Room 77)

Objects From Greece On The British Museum Website

Follow Tours Of Greek History In The British Museum Online

The Department of Prehistory and Europe (P&E;) holds the Museum’s collections of art and archaeology of Europe from the earliest times to the present day, which includes objects from Ireland .

Works on paper by Irish artists are held by the Department of Prints and Drawings (P&D;), including an important group by the artist James Barry (1741-1806)

Coins, medals and paper money from Ireland are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;).

Galleries

Later Bronze Age & Celtic Europe Gallery (Room 50)

Early Medieval Gallery (Room 41)

Europe 15th to 18th Centuries (Room 46)

Objects From Northern Ireland In the British Museum

The Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities’ collection of material from the native cultures of Italy, including the Etruscans, begins in the Bronze Age (around 2500 BC). Later the whole of the Roman Empire is covered until the Edict of Milan in AD 313, with later pagan survivals.

The Department of Prints and Drawings (P&D;) has one of the best collections in the world of works by Italian artists. It holds major masterpieces of both drawings and prints by the chief Italian artists up to 1800; the collections of works by Michelangelo and Raphael are one of the Department’s great strengths. It also has significant holdings of works by later artists.

Coins, medals and paper money from Italy are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from the earliest Roman currencies to the Euro, , and including an internationally renowned collection of Italian Renaissance medals.

Galleries

The Greeks in Southern Italy (Room 73)

Italy Before the Roman Empire (Room 71)

Rome: City and Empire (Room 70)

Greek and Roman Sculpture (Room 23)

Life in Ancient Greece and Rome (Room 69)

Greek and Roman architecture (Room 77)

Roman Sculpture (Room 83)

Townley Sculptures (Room 84)

Portrait Sculpture (Room 85)

Europe 15th to 18th Centuries (Room 46)

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Objects From Italy On The British Museum Website

The Department of Prehistory and Europe (P&E;) holds the Museum’s collections of art and archaeology of Europe from the earliest times to the present day.

Works on paper by Spanish artists are held by the Department of Prints and Drawings (P&D;). As well as some interesting drawings and prints from the 17th century, the collections include an almost complete set of Goya's prints, and a unique study collection of the later printings from the plates.

Coins, medals and paper money from Spain are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), including ancient currencies, pieces of eight, and coins and banknotes right up to the Euro.

Galleries

Europe 15th to 18th Centuries (Room 46)

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Objects From Spain On The British Museum Website

The Museum's Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities (GR) holds one of the largest collections of Cypriot antiquities outside Cyprus itself, with some 5000 objects ranging in date from the third millennium BC to the fourth century AD. Particular strengths include Late Bronze Age material, with a range of pottery, gold jewellery, bronzes, faience, ivory, stone items and glass. The extensive collection of Archaic sculpture, mostly of limestone, is also particularly fine.

Coins, medals and paper money from Cyprus are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;).

Galleries

The A. G. Leventis Gallery of Cypriot Antiquities (Room 72) contains objects made or found in Cyprus, ranging in date between about 4500 BC and AD 330. They illustrate Cypriot culture and civilisation from the earliest times to the end of the Roman period.

Objects From Cyprus On The British Museum Website

The Department of the Ancient Near East (ANE) holds around 2000 artefacts from ancient Turkey. The objects date from Neolithic times (c. 5500 BC) until the conquests of the Persians (c. 536 BC). Among the more notable objects are clay tablets, inscribed with cuneiform. These date from the Middle and Late Bronze Age (c.2000-1200 BC) and include business archives and Hittite royal treaties. Other important artefacts are pieces of intricate metalwork and ivory furniture fittings from the Urartian temple at Toprakkale, near Lake Van.

Coins, medals and paper money from Turkey are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), including currencies from 2000 years ago, to the present day.

Galleries

Ancient Anatolia (Rooms 53-54)

The Nereid Monument (Room 17)

The Payava Tomb (Room 20)

Mausoleum of Halikarnassos (Room 21)

Ephesos (Room 82)

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Objects From Turkey On The British Museum Website

The Oceanic section of the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA) holds a collection comprising around 34,500 objects made by islanders of the Pacific Ocean and by Aboriginal Australians. It contains archaeological collections and works from the mid-eighteenth century onwards, including sculpture, ceremonial carvings, costumes, masks, clothing, textiles, domestic utensils, weapons, tools, ornaments, and contemporary arts. Areas currently attracting particular interest from researchers and the public include New Zealand, Australia, Easter Island, Hawai’i, Tahiti, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the Solomon Islands.

Coins, medals and paper money from Oceania are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), including early currencies and the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Galleries

Some items from the Pacific and Australia are on display in the British Museum. One of the most well-known of these is the Easter Island moai (stone ancestral figure) in the Wellcome Gallery. Also featured in the Wellcome Gallery are masks and other initiation objects from the Gulf of Papua New Guinea, dance costumes from Vanuatu and burial poles from Arnhem Land, Australia. A range of Maori taonga (treasures) is on display in the Enlightenment Gallery, along with items from Hawai’i, Tahiti, Easter Island, the Marquesas, Tonga and Australia.

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Objects From Australasia And The Pacific On The British Museum Website

The British Museum's Maori collection consists of around 2,500 artefacts, many of which are small items such as stone tools and fish-hooks. Consequently there is more than can be displayed at any given time. We endeavour to accommodate as many requests as possible to show Maori visitors artefacts at the off-site reserve collections store by appointment, on weekdays only.

At present the only Maori artefacts displayed in the museum are in the King's Library Gallery (room 1). These are at the north end of the gallery. They include tiki, hand clubs and carved treasure boxes. The floor case includes two treasure boxes collected on Cook's voyages, a tiki on loan from the Royal Collection, a rei puta pendant and a whalebone comb thought to have been collected on Cook's first voyage.

The Centre for Anthropology located in the British Museum houses a reference library which has a good collection of books on Maori subjects. There is also a collections enquiry service for the department. The latter service available on weekday afternoons provides access to documentation about the collections and provides an opportunity to see photographs of many of the artefacts in the collection.

Objects From New Zealand On The British Museum Website

The 2006 Power And Taboo Exhibition At The British Museum

Much of the British Museum's Islamic collection is on display in the John Addis Islamic Gallery. This gallery displays aspects of the history of Islam, from the seventh century AD to the present day, and from Spain to India. The arrangement is mainly chronological, with western Islam - Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey - on the left as you go down the stairs, and eastern Islam - Iran, Afghanistan and India - to the right. At the end of the gallery are cases on Islamic Spain, science and magic, arms and armour, coinage and a changing exhibition of contemporary graphics. An example of contemporary art is displayed to the right of Case 44. The British Museum is actively collecting 20th century material from the Islamic world, including calligraphy, popular religious prints, political posters and studio pottery.

The Department of Prehistory & Europe (P&E;) houses a small group of Judaica comprising 70 items ranging from the 14th to the 19th century. These include 25 Jewish marriage rings, an 18th-century embroidered Torah binder and ceremonial items in silver and bronze. Some of these are on loan to the Victoria & Albert Museum for their new Gallery of Sacred Silver opening in 2005.

Jewish coins, medals and paper money are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M;), from 2000-year-old Jewish coins to the coins and banknotes of modern Israel.

Objects Related To Judaism From The British Museum Website