British Museum Opens Up to Sky and Public

The venerable British Museum last week reinvented itself with the unveiling of Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, a transformed inner courtyard said to be Europe’s largest covered square.

The Great Court reclaims a two-acre internal courtyard that once housed the British Library, which in 1998 was moved to St. Pancras, in central London. At the heart of the Great Court is the round Reading Room, restored to its 19th century splendor. Formerly accessible only to scholars granted a “reader’s ticket,” the Reading Room is open to the public for the first time in its 143-year history. The Great Court also comprises a new education center, galleries, a restaurant, cafes and museum shops under a 65,000-square-foot glass-and-steel roof.

The project is the centerpiece of an ambitious development program that the museum is undertaking to celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2003. Internet https://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk.