the british museum online collection now offers 4.5 million artworks to view for free

in response to COVID-19, the british museum has now made more than half of its collection — approximately 4.5 million artworks and 1.9 million images — available for free on its website. historic artifacts, including the rosetta stone, the sutton hoo discoveries and the parthenon sculptures, are photographed in high definition, allowing the public detailed looks by zooming in or panning over the objects. this latest update of the institution’s online collection features more than 280,000 never-published photographs.

the rosetta stone, egypt 196 BC | all images from the british museum

‘we’ve been working extra hard to bring you this update early so you can #museumfromhome even better than before.’ shares the british museum on twitter.

by staying active online, the british museum hopes to help the public, under quarantine, to stay engaged with art and history. made available for non-commercial purposes, the photographs also allow the museum to reach out to a wider audience including students, teachers and researchers around the world. for those who are looking to learn more and stay involved, the museum continues to offer its virtual tour with google street view, an online podcast hosted by sushma jansari and hugo chapman, audio tours on apple music or google play, and interview series, curator’s corner, on their youtube account.

the sutton hoo helmet, suffolk, england, early AD 600s

the british museum, located in london, was first established in 1753 and is the world’s first ever national public museum. dedicated to human history, art and culture, the museum of ten different departments covers a collection of over 8 million objects and artifacts from around the world. a few of its most notable collections include the rosetta stone of ancient egypt and the elgin marbles of greece.

raphael cartoon for ‘virgin and child’, 1509-1511