unit 2 B

Exercises of Text B
Part One
Answer the following questions according to the above passage.
1. What are the three important principles that the British Museum has been sticking to since it was founded?
2. In the early days, what was the main source of the collections in British Museum? 3. What were the different kinds of the collections in British Museum?
11 In the early days of the British Museum the collection was divided in three: Printed Books (including prints); Manuscripts (including medals); Natural and Artificial Productions (everything else). 12 With the extension of the British Museum, the collection of Chinese antiquities, including paintings, porcelain, lacquer, bronze, jade, applied arts, etc, became one of the most precious objects in the museum. From central Asia came the department’s collection of paintings from Dunhuang, key works for understanding the diffusion of Buddhism in Asia. Thus, Asian Antiquities returned to Oriental Antiquities, which became the Department of Asia. 13 The Museum celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2003 with the restoration of the King’s Library, the Museum’s oldest room, and the launch of a new permanent exhibition inside it called Enlightenment: Discovering the world in the eigollection of manuscripts, given to the nation in 1700, was attached to the new museum and £ 10,000 was expended on the purchase of the Harleian collection of manuscripts. A new Board of Trustees was established. In 1757 King George II donated the “Old Royal Library” of the sovereigns of England and with it the privilege of copyright receipt. 10 As the natural history collections and the library expanded, Montagu House was rapidly outgrown. In 1823 the gift to the nation by George IV of his father’s library (the King’s Library) lead to the construction of today’s quadrangular building designed by Sir Robert Smirke (1780-1867). The first phase was completed in 1852. Construction of the round Reading Room followed, designed by Robert’s brother Sydney (1798-1877), and positioned in the central courtyard in 1854.
Unit 2 Text B The History of the British Museum
1 The British Museum was founded in 1753 to promote universal understanding through the arts, natural history and science in a public museum. Since its foundation, the British Museum has been guided by three important principles: that the collections are held in perpetuity in their entirety, that they are widely available to all who seek to enjoy and learn from them and that they are curated by fulltime specialists. 2 The Museum was first housed in a seventeenth-century mansion, Montagu House, in Bloomsbury on the site of today’s building. On 15 January 1759 the British Museum opened to the public. With the exception of two World Wars, when parts of the collection were evacuated, it has remained open ever since, gradually increasing its opening hours and moving from an attendance of 5,000 per year to today’s 5 million.
3 From its beginnings the British Museum was a new type of institution. Governed by a body of Trustees responsible to Parliament, its collections belonged to the nation, with free admission for all. Entry was given to all studious and curious persons, linking public enjoyment with education. Access to the library and information on the collections has always been available through the Reading Room. The first students’ room, Prints & Drawings, opened in 1808. 4 The British Museum holds in trust for the nation and the world a collection of art and antiquities from ancient and living cultures. Housed in one of Britain’s architectural landmarks, the collection is one of the finest in existence, spanning two million years of human history. Access to the collections is free.
6 The origins of the British Museum lie in the will of the physician, naturalist and collector, Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753). Sloane wanted his collection of more than 71,000 objects, library and herbarium to be preserved intact after his death. He bequeathed it to King George II for the nation in return for payment of £ 20,000 to his heirs. If refused, the collection was to be offered to centers of learning abroad. A large and influential group of Trustees was charged with overseeing the disposition of his estate. 7 The King had little interest but Parliament, led by the Speaker, Arthur Onslow, was persuaded to accept the gift. An Act of Parliament establishing the British Museum received the royal assent on 7 June 1753. This stated that the funds for the purchase and storage of the collections should be raised by public lottery. 8 The foundation collections largely consisted of books, manuscripts and natural history with some antiquities (including coins and medals, prints and drawings) and ethnography (the study of cultures).