Touring exhibitions and loans

Museum in Britain and the World

In 1753 Sir Hans Sloane left his collection of 71,000 objects to the nation, which became the foundation of the British Museum. Today this founding principle remains and the British Museum is committed to being a museum for the nation and the world by making its collection visible throughout the UK and worldwide.

Every year over two million people see British Museum exhibitions and objects on show outside the Museum in Bloomsbury. In 2006/2007, 2,200 objects were on loan to other museums and organisations throughout the UK.

Within the UK loans vary from single items that may travel as objects in focus or ‘spotlight’ tours, to key archaeological finds connected with particular places, to entire exhibitions and contributions to exhibitions devised by other museums and galleries.

The Museum seeks to make the collection accessible worldwide as far as possible, through an intensive programme of loans to an increasing number of partner institutions abroad.

The Museum’s collection is increasingly being used as a library of human cultural achievement from which partner museums worldwide are able to borrow to complement their own collections, and tell new stories for their audiences.

For current touring exhibitions and some long-term loans see the Touring section of What's on.