What is British Museum?
[[File:British Museum from NE 2.JPG|thumb|250px|British Museum front entrance]] [[File:British Museum Great Court, London, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|250px|Inside the museum: the BM Great Court]] [[File:Rosetta Stone.JPG|thumb|230px|The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum]] [[File:Cavalcade west frieze Parthenon BM.jpg|thumb|right|230px|[[Cavalry]] from the Parthenon Frieze, West II, 2â€“3, British Museum.]] The '''British Museum''' in [[London]] is one of the world's largest and most important [[museum]]s of human [[history]] and [[culture]]. It has more than seven million objects<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/museum_in_london.aspx |title=Museum in London |accessdate= 2010-06-04 }}</ref> from all continents. They illustrate and document the story of human culture from its beginning to the present. As with all other national museums and art galleries in Britain, the Museum charges no admission fee. The British Museum set up in 1753 and opened in 1759. It was the first museum in the world to be open to everyone.<ref name=BM1>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/museum_in_london.aspx|title=The eighteenth century: origins of the British Museum |accessdate= 2010-06-05 }}</ref> The museum gradually grew over the next two hundred years. It has nearly six million visitors a year and is the third [[List of most visited art museums in the world|most popular art museum in the world]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8530175.stm|title=Free tourist atrractions see visitor numbers soar|date=24 February 2010 |publisher=[[BBC]]|accessdate= 2010-06-04 }}</ref> Some of the museum's most popular and important [[wikt:exhibit|exhibit]]s include the [[Rosetta Stone]] and the [[Elgin Marbles]]. == History == The history of the British Museum began with the Irish born British [[physics|physicist]] [[Hans Sloane]], who died aged 93 in 1753. During his life, he had collected many important things from all around the world. When he died, he did not want his collection t