The British Museum is a national museum in the Bloomsbury area of London, housed in a Greek Revival building designed by the architect Robert Smirke and built mainly between 1823 and 1847, its main facade carrying 43 Ionic columns modeled on the Temple of Athena Polias at Priene. Robert's brother Sydney Smirke later added the circular Reading Room at the center of the building's courtyard, completed in 1857 with what was then the second-widest dome in the world. That courtyard was roofed over in 2000 by Foster and Partners as the Great Court, using 1,656 uniquely shaped glass panes to form what is described as the largest covered public square in Europe. The museum's galleries, covering more than 92,000 square meters, sustained significant bomb damage during the Second World War, including a direct hit on the Duveen Gallery in 1940.
Facts
Building TypeSourced to the subject's own account LocationSourced to the subject's own accountGreat Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London, England 1 Completed Year Completed YearSourced to the subject's own account Classification
Standing StatusSourced to the subject's own account Building Type
Building Type (category)Sourced to the subject's own account Connections
Has Building Type
Entity-backed identity for the building-type enum value this building already carries, resolved to an architecture concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The building-type fact itself stays on the building unchanged.
In Style
Source Wikipedia: British Museum
Uses Element
Source Wikipedia: British Museum
Source Wikipedia: British Museum
Source Wikipedia: British Museum
Source Wikipedia: British Museum
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: British Museum
WikipediaLead section, first sentence
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London.
Architecture section, forecourt sentence
The opening of the forecourt in 1852 marked the completion of Robert Smirke's 1823 plan.
Entity description and the lead of the Wikipedia article
The British Museum is a national museum in the Bloomsbury area of London, housed in a Greek Revival building designed by the architect Robert Smirke and built mainly between 1823 and 1847, its main facade carrying 43 Ionic columns modeled on the Temple of Athena Polias at Priene. Robert's brother Sydney Smirke later added the circular Reading Room at the center of the building's courtyard, completed in 1857 with what was then the second-widest dome in the world. That courtyard was roofed over in 2000 by Foster and Partners as the Great Court, using 1,656 uniquely shaped glass panes to form what is described as the largest covered public square in Europe. The museum's galleries, covering more than 92,000 square meters, sustained significant bomb damage during the Second World War, including a direct hit on the Duveen Gallery in 1940.
In Style: Greek Revival Architecture, Architecture section, facade sentence
The Greek Revival facade facing Great Russell Street is a characteristic building of Sir Robert Smirke, with 43 columns in the Ionic order 45 ft (14 m) high, closely based on those of the temple of Athena Polias at Priene in Asia Minor.
Uses Element: Stone, Wikipedia article
The museum is faced with Portland stone, but the perimeter walls and other parts of the building were built using Haytor granite from Dartmoor in South Devon, transported via the unique Haytor Granite Tramway.
Uses Element: Granite, Wikipedia article
The museum is faced with Portland stone, but the perimeter walls and other parts of the building were built using Haytor granite from Dartmoor in South Devon, transported via the unique Haytor Granite Tramway.
Uses Element: Glass, Wikipedia article
The museum is faced with Portland stone, but the perimeter walls and other parts of the building were built using Haytor granite from Dartmoor in South Devon, transported via the unique Haytor Granite Tramway.
Uses Element: Steel, Wikipedia article
The museum is faced with Portland stone, but the perimeter walls and other parts of the building were built using Haytor granite from Dartmoor in South Devon, transported via the unique Haytor Granite Tramway.
View the Source 2. Wikidata: The British Museum
- Wikidata Q6373, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Wikidata Q6373, P571 claim (w-bbfill-artsarchag-0926)
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