British Museum Reviews 

I was impressed with the Mummy of Cleopatra in the egyptian section, until I learned that it was in fact *not* Cleopatra but some random other woman also named Cleopatra with no obvious disclaimer noting this fact. It was a ruse! I feel tricked! Bamboozled even! It would be like me declaring that I own the favorite childhood toy of George Washington but the childhood toy is actually the stuffed Dinosaur my dog George Washington always plays with.

Thank you so much for the staff member and people on the lift who helped when my little one hand got stuck on the lift door. Can not Thank you enough 🙏🙏🙏

The reviews are mostly from the White people. So, as a person from India, I would like to realistically point out the fact that you need not to even visit all the items in the British Museum in order to conclude and understand that the British are a thief. Only after a couple of items that you see would you realize that all of them are stolen by the British from various cultures and countries. All the items in the museum, simply put, do not belong to the British; they are stolen. But of course, I expect nothing less from the former colonizers of the world. In my view, colonizers often lack courtesy, realism, and culture of course, because why would a country showcase some other country's culture in their national museum unless of course they lack one.

Huge queues and expensive tickets. I'm also ashamed that the British Museum recently hosted a corporate event for a foreign country that shares none of the values of the British people. Any institution that allows the perpetrators of war crimes to have a celebratory party celebrating their crimes should be removed from everyone's attendance list. Let's hope the International Court of Justice will bring all those perpetrators and collaborators to justice soon.

Had a stunning chat with Matthew at coat check. He was knowledgeable about the museum, interested in hearing our thoughts of the museum and generally a top guy. 10/10 for Matthew.

In other news, the coat check is overpriced.

The British museum experience was very good 👍 but the ladies toilets were not good because there was a long queue whilst the male toilets didn’t have any queue at all .

Most visitors expect to access the British Museum from Great Russell Street but when you get to the entrance, unless you have an exhibition ticket or are a Member, you are told to go to the back entrance. There are no prominent signs warning you of this: just a small notice in a frame on the railing.

Having legged it to the back entrance you then have to go through a grubby little security tent to have your bags checked.

Eventually I got to the Japanese Galleries (rooms 92-94); then they were closed at 15:00 but there was no notice that this would happen.

Let’s have a cup of tea in the Great Court cafe: this was uncomfortably cold.

The impression I get from the British Museum is they simply don’t care. Visitors are a nuisance, so let’s annoy them by making them walk further than necessary (no consideration for those with disabilities), close galleries early without warning, and make them sit in a cold café while they consume overpriced food and drink.

This institution should be utterly ashamed of itself. The public would be far better served if it were closed and its contents handed over to other museums and galleries who actually welcome visitors e.g. the V&A, National Portrait Gallery.

Visitors: don’t spoil your visit to London by going to this unwelcoming and uncaring museum which is well past its sell-by date.

I had a deeply frustrating experience at the British Museum’s Silk Roads exhibition, and unfortunately, the museum’s response has been equally disappointing.

I purchased two tickets in advance for a weekend visit, expecting an organized and enjoyable experience. However, upon arrival, the exhibition was so overcrowded that in half an hour, I was only able to see a single display case after waiting in a long queue. Every exhibit had a significant queue, making it impossible to fully appreciate what was on display.

Given the situation, my husband and I decided to leave and requested a refund at the ticket desk. While the staff was polite and offered us tickets to another exhibition, we were denied a refund on the basis that we had already "entered" the exhibition—even though the experience was completely unmanageable due to poor crowd control. Instead, we were given a readmission ticket and told to return on a quieter day, such as a weekday morning, which is completely unfeasible for full-time professionals like us.

I want to be clear: I am not asking for a refund because I changed my mind. I am asking for a refund because the museum failed to deliver what was promised—a properly managed, accessible exhibition. I paid a premium price for a weekend ticket, traveled to the museum, spent time and money, and ultimately did not receive the experience I was sold.

The museum's refund policy only makes sense if the service is actually provided. In this case, it was not. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, services must be provided with reasonable care and skill, and in this instance, the British Museum failed to do so.

I hope the museum reconsiders its approach to crowd management and customer service. Denying refunds in cases where the service was not properly delivered is simply unfair, and I would caution other visitors—especially those paying for ticketed exhibitions—to think twice before booking.

Would I return to the British Museum? Of course. But after this experience, I will never purchase a paid exhibition ticket from them again.

Fantastic architecture and wonderful exhibits!

Gorgeous building, exterior and interior! Smartly reconstructed to accommodate big crowds of visitors! Great exhibition hall dedicated to the Persian Empire, ancient Egypt, Greek and Rome, China, Africa and many more!
Amazing educational Silk Road experience on February 1st, 2025 at no cost since it’s free to get in but you should register online and book your tickets.

Highly Recommend!

We came here for the Silk road exhibition, and although we had a timed ticket it was completely overcrowded.I roughly counted over 500 people in a relatively small area. Absolutely my worst experience ever visiting a paid for exhibition. Recently I visited the Great Moghuls in the V&A which was by far better organised, limiting the number of people making it a much more pleasant experience, with better content and a ar better use of space. You be better off watching a documentary on YouTube saving yourself a lot of money.

The Silk road exhibition was full of fascinating objects. BUT - it was impossible to read the display captions behind crowds of people craning to read small print. The BM should be ashamed. We travelled for hours and spent a large sum. So many mistakes in curating for something that should be compellingly fascinating. Too crowded (greedy BM), captions too small and too complicated. Linkages between objects poorly explained. No maps except very small scale, and very few stories about the people who lived, traded and moved along the Silk Roads. In other words, dull, crowded and shockingly badly presented.

A petty lady (a visitor, not a staff) told me and my little children that children are not allowed at the special exhibition Silk Roads as she was trying to enjoy the special show here. She literally told us we need to take the children out… She was wrong and age discriminative - Children 0-16y are welcome and go free for this exhibition at the point of booking per the British Musuem website, and confirmed by the staff at the musuem. How petty and selfish and unkind she was. I can only wish that she could start to accept she is not the centre of the universe and that she reflect on her rudeness in the new year. Happy new year to kind people who are reading this and thanks for the staff who tried to mitigate the situation on the day.

Advise for the British Museum (BM): make it obvious on site with signs that 1) visitors should respect each other and try to be mutually considerate, 2) children are welcome, 3) consider draft internal protocols on how to react to visitors who demonstrate verbal abusive behaviour so that staff can effectively handle such cases. It should be officially stated that the BM does not tolerate discrimination in any format.

I am a long-time regular visitor and occasional donor. I queued for half an hour in the pouring rain today and when I reached the entrance was told that I couldn’t to come in without a ticket and immediately and very threateningly to “step aside”. I’d never heard of this before so I asked when it came in and was angrily told “last year” but as it was New Year’s day that could mean anything. I was told that this applies absolutely every day, which from the website appears to be wrong. The whole tone was unbelievably obnoxious and autocratic and left the feeling of being treated like cattle. People with this temperament should not be working in customer facing roles at a national institution. The queue is extremely long and chaotic and is obstructing much of Great Russell Street pavement and there are no signs advising of the ticket requirement or attendants offering information.

A truly awful experience. We travelled a long way to visit the Silks Roads exhibition and experienced terrible over-crowding, inaccessible exhibits and inadequate management at every turn. Floor level staff seem well aware of the issues and encouraged us to complain and ask for refunds. We left shortly after arriving (having spent over 3 hours on a coach to get there) We wrote a letter of complaint politely requesting a refund and, after waiting almost a week, received what appeared to be an AI-generated fobbing off...very poor from the British Museum - if Trust Pilot had a zero stars rating option that would have been my choice!

Hot drinks have non-recyclable PET 6 plastic lids and staff insist that they are used. There is no signage indicating how to reach the Picasso Printmaker exhibition on the fourth floor. Silk Roads and Hew Locke v well signed. Spent nearly as much time queueing in the women’s toilets as I did viewing the exhibition. These long queues do not occur in RA, National Gallery, V&A or the Tates. Toilets are closed half an hour before the building closes, but there is no warning about this. People put used toilet tissue in the sanitary bins in the toilet cubicles so they are always overflowing and unpleasant-smelling.

Free entrance

Don't go to the Silk Roads Exhibition. We went today having booked a timeslot. The number of people being allowed in at one time is about twice what it should be. To get near enough to any of the objects on display, one may wait several minutes in a line. To get near enough to an item's notice of explanation it can take a further few minutes. This completely spoilt the experience for us and we missed much of the exhibition.

I would also mention that I held on the phone for 20 minutes without an answer. And that the Iconic building looks shabby and dirty from the outside, which is a shame.

Went to the Silk Rd Exhibition. What a disappointment!
I was excited to discover more about the Silk Roads and imagined that this would be a tactile and stimulating experience. I had in my mind, images of beautiful silks, the smell of spices and the hustle and bustle of all the trading that must have happened between different nations in numerous languages! Instead I got some very dry writing and nothing to evoke how it must have felt at the time! Some of the artefacts were interesting but any interest was killed by the uninspiring writing. What an opportunity missed! Given the price and today’s sophisticated ways of evoking a period of history, this was a let down, and absolutely nothing to interest or inspire children! Poor show!