Room 46
Europe 1400–1800
Visiting the gallery
Opening times
Daily: 10.00–17.00 (Fridays: 20.30)
See full opening hours
Advance booking advised
Gallery audio guides
Listen on the Audio app, available on the App Store and Google Play.
The Europe 1400–1800 gallery charts a period of great social change that radically altered everyday life.
From the Italian Renaissance to the Enlightenment, Europe was shaped by the migration of intellectuals, craftsmen and merchants. Trading links with Africa, Asia and the Americas exposed Britain and continental Europe to new ideas and global luxuries.
The growth of cities created a need for new technologies, fuelling the industrial revolution, while religious wars and political revolutions established our fundamental rights and freedoms. Immigrants fleeing religious persecution from across Europe, including Jews, Huguenot Protestants and others, enriched British culture and identity.
Exotic objects from royal treasuries, luxury goods and fashionable accessories, alongside ordinary tablewares, made of ceramics, glass, gold and silver, and more, reveal the physical evidence of human experience.
One feature illustrates the history of early Jewish communities in England, and aspects of Jewish life and religion in England and Europe.
Take a virtual tour
See the contrast between fine objects belonging to the rich and royal, and those used in ordinary everyday life, over a period of 400 years, in Room 46.
Highlights
Accessibility
- Some objects in this collection feature on the British Sign Language multimedia guide. This resource is temporarily unavailable. You can access a selection of BSL films on your own device.
- Seating is available.
- Step-free access.
- View sensory map.
Visit Accessibility at the Museum for more information.
