British Museum

National museum in London

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January 2025 The British Museum faced criticism from Tibetan human rights groups for using the Chinese government's preferred term 'Xizang' when referring to Tibet, which was seen as controversial and potentially politically sensitive.
2024 The British Museum Archaeological Collection, a purpose-built storage facility near Reading, was opened.
May 2024 626 of the missing items had been recovered. The museum announced a five-year plan to digitise the complete collection and make it available online.
2023 The museum became the most visited tourist attraction in Britain, with 5,820,860 total visits, representing a 42% increase from 2022. The museum's online database had nearly 4,500,000 individual object entries in 2,000,000 records.
2023 The museum received 5,820,860 visitors, which was 42% more than the previous year, and was rated as potentially the most popular attraction in the United Kingdom.
December 2023 The British Museum announces a new £50 million sponsorship deal with BP, continuing their controversial partnership despite ongoing protests.
October 2023 The China's Hidden Century exhibition at the British Museum concluded after running from May to October.
August 2023 The British Museum reached a copyright settlement with translator Yilin Wang regarding her unauthorized use of translations of Qiu Jin's poetry in their China's Hidden Century exhibition.
August 2023 A staff member was fired after it was revealed that items including gold, jewellery, and gems had been stolen over a 'significant' period. Approximately 2,000 artefacts were estimated to be stolen.
May 2023 The China's Hidden Century exhibition opened at the British Museum, which later became the subject of a copyright dispute with translator Yilin Wang.
2022 UK law was further amended to give museums expanded powers to return looted art or provide compensation.
2022 British Museum entered preliminary negotiations with the Greek government regarding the future of the Elgin Marbles.
2022 Museum website received 19.5 million visits.
2022 In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the museum's interior is featured as the Illuminati headquarters.
2021 The museum was first warned about potential thefts by staff.
2020 British Museum appointed a curator to research the history of its collections, including disputed items.
February 2020 1,500 demonstrators, including British Museum staff, participate in a day of protest against BP's sponsorship of the museum.
July 2019 Ahdaf Soueif resigns from the British Museum's board of trustees in protest against BP's sponsorship of the museum.
2017 British Museum Spoliation report published by the Collections Trust revealed that around 30% of 21,350 drawings acquired since 1933 have uncertain or incomplete provenance from the 1933-1945 period.
2017 The World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize for architectural excellence.
2016 Protests begin against the British Museum's sponsorship relationship with BP, with activist groups, trade unions, and the public raising concerns about the museum's connection to an oil company and its implications for global warming.
March 2014 World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre was completed in time for the Viking exhibition.
January 2012 The museum presented 'Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam', the first major exhibition exploring the Islamic pilgrimage, which continued through April 2012.
2011 A Cartier diamond went missing from the museum (not discovered until 2017).
2010 Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum, expressed hope for collaborative investigation of contested collections.

This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles List of films shot at the British Museum & British Museum, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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