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British Museum Reading Room

 
British Museum Reading Room

 
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British Museum Reading Room
 
 
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The British Museum Reading Room, situated in the centre of the Great Court
Queen Elizabeth II Great Court

The central Quadrangle of the British Museum in London was redeveloped to a design by Foster and Partners to become the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, commonly referred to simply as the Great Court, during the late 1990s....
 of the British Museum
British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in London. Its collections, which number more than 7 million Object , are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present....
, used to be the main reading room of the British Library
British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is based in London and is one of the world's largest List of Research libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats; books, journals, newspapers, magazines, Sound recording, patents, databases, maps, stamps, Printmaking, drawings and much mor...
. In 1997, this function moved to the new British Library building at St Pancras, London
St Pancras, London

St Pancras is an area of London. For many centuries the name has been used for various officially designated areas, but today it is only an informal term and is rarely used, having been largely superseded by several other terms for overlapping districts....
, but the Reading Room remains in its original form. Designed by Sydney Smirke
Sydney Smirke

Sydney Smirke, architect, was born in London, England, the younger brother of Sir Robert Smirke , also an architect. Their father, also Robert Smirke , had been a well-known 18th Century painter....
 on a suggestion by the Library's Chief Librarian Anthony Panizzi
Anthony Panizzi

Sir Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi , better known as Anthony Panizzi, was a naturalized British librarian of Italy birth and an Italian patriot....
, following an earlier competition idea by William Hosking
William Hosking

William Hosking Society of Antiquaries of London was a writer, lecturer, and architect who had an important influence on the growth and development of London in Victorian times....
, the Reading Room was in continual use from 1857 until its temporary closure in 1997.






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The British Museum Reading Room, situated in the centre of the Great Court
Queen Elizabeth II Great Court

The central Quadrangle of the British Museum in London was redeveloped to a design by Foster and Partners to become the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, commonly referred to simply as the Great Court, during the late 1990s....
 of the British Museum
British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in London. Its collections, which number more than 7 million Object , are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present....
, used to be the main reading room of the British Library
British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is based in London and is one of the world's largest List of Research libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats; books, journals, newspapers, magazines, Sound recording, patents, databases, maps, stamps, Printmaking, drawings and much mor...
. In 1997, this function moved to the new British Library building at St Pancras, London
St Pancras, London

St Pancras is an area of London. For many centuries the name has been used for various officially designated areas, but today it is only an informal term and is rarely used, having been largely superseded by several other terms for overlapping districts....
, but the Reading Room remains in its original form. Designed by Sydney Smirke
Sydney Smirke

Sydney Smirke, architect, was born in London, England, the younger brother of Sir Robert Smirke , also an architect. Their father, also Robert Smirke , had been a well-known 18th Century painter....
 on a suggestion by the Library's Chief Librarian Anthony Panizzi
Anthony Panizzi

Sir Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi , better known as Anthony Panizzi, was a naturalized British librarian of Italy birth and an Italian patriot....
, following an earlier competition idea by William Hosking
William Hosking

William Hosking Society of Antiquaries of London was a writer, lecturer, and architect who had an important influence on the growth and development of London in Victorian times....
, the Reading Room was in continual use from 1857 until its temporary closure in 1997. The Reading Room's dome
Dome

A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
d roof is metal framed, and the surface that makes up the ceiling is a type of papier-mâché
Papier-mâché

Papier-m?ch? , sometimes called paper-m?ch?, is a construction material that consists of pieces of paper, sometimes reinforced with textiles, stuck together using a wet paste ....
. Access was restricted to registered researchers only; however, reader's credentials were generally available to anyone who could show that they were a serious researcher.

Famous readers

The Reading Room was used by a large number of famous figures, including notably Mohammad Ali Jinnah,Karl Marx
Karl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was a Germanphilosophy, political economy, historian, sociologist, humanism, political theorist and revolutionary credited as the founder of communism....
, Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish people playwright, Irish poetry and author of numerous short stories and one novel. Known for his biting wit, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest Celebrity of his day....
, Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of satyagraha?resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence?which led India to Indian independence movement and inspired movements for civi...
, Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English author and poet. Born in Mumbai, British India , he is best known for his works of fiction The Jungle Book , Kim , many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King ; and his poems, including Mandalay , Gunga Din , and If? ....
, George Orwell
George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an England author. His work is marked by a profound consciousness of social injustice, an intense dislike of totalitarianism, and a passion for clarity in language....
, George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw, was an Irish people playwright.Although Shaw's first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, his talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays....
, Lenin
Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin , born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov and also known by the pseudonyms V.I. Lenin and N. Lenin, was a Russians revolutionary, a Bolshevik Communism politician, the principal leader of the October Revolution and the first head of the USSR....
, Norbert Elias
Norbert Elias

Norbert Elias was a Germany sociology of Jewish descent, who later became a Great Britain citizen.His work focused on the relationship between power, behavior, emotion, and knowledge over time....
, Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud

Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French people poet, born in Charleville-M?zi?res. As part of the decadent movement, his influence on modern literature, music and art has been enduring and pervasive....
 and H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells , known by his pen name H. G. Wells, was an England author, best known for his work in the science fiction genre. Wells and Jules Verne are each sometimes referred to as "The Father of Science Fiction"....
.

Current use

Following the collection's move to the new site, the old Reading Room was opened to the public
Public

Public, adj, is of or pertaining to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community; opposed to Private sector; as, the public treasury, a road or lake....
 in 2000, following a renovation and addition of a gridshell
Gridshell

A gridshell is a structure which derives its strength from its double curvature , but is constructed of a grid or lattice.The grid can be made of any material, but is most often wood or steel....
 roof by noted architect
Architect

An architect is trained and licenced in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e....
 Norman Foster
Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank

Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, Order of Merit, Royal Institute of British Architects, Chartered Society of Designers, Royal Designers for Industry, is a British architect whose company maintains an international design practice....
. It contains a collection of book
Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side....
s on history
HIStory

HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I is a double album by Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995, and is Jackson's ninth. The first disc, named "HIStory Begins" consists of a selection of Jackson's greatest hits from the singer's past fifteen years, while the second, named "HIStory Continues" features new songs, with the...
, art
Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
, travel
Travel

Travel is the change in Location of people on a trip through the means of transport from one location to another. Travel is most commonly for recreation , for business trip or for commuting; but may be for numerous other reasons, such as migration, fleeing war, etc....
, and other subjects relevant to the British Museum's collections, on open shelves.

In 2006 the British Museum announced its plans to modify the Reading Room to house a temporary exhibition entitled 'The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army
Terracotta Army

The Terracotta Army are the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang the First Emperor of China. The terracotta figures, dating from 210 BC, were discovered in 1974 by several local farmers near Xi'an, Shanxi province, China near the Mausouleum of the First Qin Emperor....
'. This has involved building a new floor above the existing reading desks.

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