Blog

Enjoy the latest news and stories from the British Museum.

Conservators work in the Hirayama studio with scrolls and artworks in front of them, surrounded by wooden boards and red lacquer tables

Museum stories / 2 October 2024

One of a kind: the Hirayama Conservation Studio

Step inside the Hirayama Studio as it celebrates 30 years conserving East Asian masterpieces on paper and silk in a unique space.

A videographer films the reconstruction of a large print, which is laid out on a table

Objects in focus / 21 May 2017

Conserving Dürer's Triumphal Arch: Getting the big picture

As the project to conserve Dürer's Triumphal Arch ends conservators work with the Hirayama Studio to prepare the print for display.

Head of an elderly man who is balding and has wrinkled skin and bulbous eyes

Exhibitions and events / 10 May 2017

Hokusai: old master

Curator Tim Clark reveals why Hokusai: beyond the Great Wave focuses on the last 30 years of the artist's extraordinarily long life.

Artist's book containing a picture of a man standing next to a boat

Exhibitions and events / 21 April 2017

Ali’s Boat: a story of migration

Venetia Porter and Holly Wright discuss Sadik Kwaish Alfraji artwork Ali’s Boat, which tells a personal story of exile and migration.

Three cats on a bench outside the British Museum

Podcasts / 12 April 2017

The British Museum podcast: The purrrplexing story of the British Museum cats

Did you know that cats used to live at the Museum? Nick Harris takes us through his podcast on this surprising aspect of Museum history.

Statue of Idrimi, king of Alalakh, made of carved magnesite with glass eyes set into the eye-sockets, heavily weathered.

Objects in focus / 10 April 2017

Idrimi, the 3,500-year-old refugee

James Fraser explains why the inscription on the statue of King Idrimi is one of the most important cuneiform documents ever found.

Objects in focus / 14 March 2017

Mary Beard's top five powerful women in ancient Greece and Rome

Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge gives us a countdown of five notable female figures from the ancient world.

Two women looking at an Etruscan statue, one seated reading from a guide book, the other standing leaning on an umbrella.

Museum stories / 8 March 2017

Women of the world

Female curators look at some of the most interesting women represented in the Museum's collection.

Curator's corner / 27 February 2017

LGBTQ badges in the British Museum

Philip Attwood takes a look at the Museum's collection of lesbian and gay badges, providing glimpses of the LGBTQ experience across time.

A special wax is applied to the ink inscription on Albrecht Dürer's The Triumphal Arch

Objects in focus / 10 February 2017

Conserving Dürer’s Triumphal Arch: it’ll all come out in the wash

Sam Taylor takes technical photographs of Dürer's Triumphal Arch discovering long-hidden details in the handmade paper, and gives it a bath.

A conservator treats Hokusai's The Great Wave

Museum stories / 31 January 2017

Joining the Hirayama Studio

Kyoko Kusunoki, Conservator of Japanese Paintings, discusses some of the projects she has been working on in the Hirayama Studio.

Artist Esther Mahlangu, dressed in Ndebele costume, with the BMW she has painted in Ndebele patterns

Exhibitions and events / 27 January 2017

A vehicle for resistance

In 1991, to mark the end of apartheid, BMW invited Esther Mahlangu to make a work of art drawing on the traditional designs of the Ndebele.

Jin Xian Qiu is interviewed whilst standing in front of a Chinese scroll

Museum stories / 26 January 2017

Chinese scroll mounting at Chinese New Year

As the year of the rooster approaches, the Chinese scroll mounters in the Hirayama Studio have plenty to crow about…