Happy birthday British Museum: Ten of the best exhibitions our critics have seen at the BM
This article originally appeared on Culture24.
The British Museum opened its doors 256 years ago today. Click on the links to read each exhibition review
© British MuseumIn the Reading Room, the largest collection of archaeological finds from the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi, the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, featured 12 complete clay warriors buried with him.
© Grayson PerryShamanism, magic, motorbikes and the terrific tapestry, Map of Truth and Beliefs, in a short tour of the people's potter's head. "It is a great source of imagination," said Director Neil MacGregor.
© The Trustees of the British MuseumA trance-inducing show of the hold gold has held over humans, this one featured the sounds of crickets and engravings by indigenous craftsmen hinting at the darker side of colonialism. Is gold a currency or a way of contacting the spirit world?
© Ahmed Mater / Trustees of the British MuseumLikely the closest non-Muslims could get to making the Hajj - a pilgrimage to Mecca during the final month of the Islamic year - this exhibition was "visually and educationally stunning". Highlights included a 9th century Qu'ran.
© Courtesy Kraushaar Galleries, New YorkFew museums outside of the US are as well placed as the BM in terms of American prints. Beginning in 1905 and ranging from the Regionalists and the Great Depression to the Cold War and abstract expressionism, 74 artists contributed 174 works here.
© The Trustees of the British MuseumHundreds of years ago, shunga - "spring pictures", or, as Curator Timothy Clark put it, a "love letter to sex" - presented sex lives as loving, passionate, comforting, rough and illicit. These fantasists had their works compared to their European counterparts in a show which grabbed the headlines.
© Trustees of the British MuseumThe famous ship burials became a prism through which a flourishing age of art and learning blossomed in this display from the so-called Dark Ages. Grave goods were at its core, with a huge variety of exhibits including 40 kg of Viking silver.
© Trustees of the British MuseumA diverse cross-section of the museum's collection: condensed and incomplete works by the likes of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Dix, Giorgio de Chirico and Sol LeWitt, testifying to the importance of drawing throughout the 20th century.
© Trustees of the British MuseumMummies are synonymous with the BM: for many, their striking, forensic nature makes them the clearest early memory of visiting. Extensively detailing the ancient bodies, this fresh look opened with the oldest in the collection - a young man from around 3500 BC, his last meal revealed by a CT scan of his stomach.
© Trustees of the British MuseumThe spoils of the Mexica, ruled by Emperor Moctezuma between 1502 and 1520, included a two-headed serpent and a two-foot tall pot used to hold hearts. The finale of this exhibition told the story of their conquistador Spanish invaders.
- What have been your favourite British Museum exhibitions? Leave a comment below.
More from Culture24's coverage of the British Museum:
British Museum wins Art Fund Prize for A History of the World in 100 Objects
Decapitated head of Emperor which amazed archaeologists in Sudan in 1910 goes on display
Archaeological Treasure: Portable Antiquities Scheme finds at the British Museum
