British Museum (Holborn or Tottenham Court Rd)
The more than four million items on exhibit throughout this 14 acre conglomeration of buildings make the British Museum virtually a vacation destination of its own. Founded in 1753 for the purpose of representing the whole range of world culture, this museum nearly succeeds.
Seven galleries hold 15000 Greek and Roman treasures, among them two of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Particularly popular are the Egyptian Galleries, where the Rosetta stone is exhibited. You may see the art of Piranesi, Botticelli and Durer, the Lindisfarne Gospels from a seventh century English monastic community, mummies, and the opulent treasures of the Sutton Hoo burial ship. The circular, domed Reading Room was where Karl Marx wrote Das Capital. Departments include coins and Medals, Prints and Drawings, Egyptian, Greek and Roman, and Prehistoric and Japanese Antiquities. Not simply a repository for rare, historic, and precious objects, the museum is a center for research and scholarship.