British Museum Reviews 

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!

Not suitable at all for people with limited mobility. A very hostile environment for disabled people. Additionally, it is a very dirty place.

The advance booking system is a nonsense. You pick a slot and then queue for ages with people who have booked later slots ahead of you. The e ticket arrived by email 4 hours after we had left. Once inside the only seats were low level stools and benches. Useless with someone who had knee problems. Customer service offered a wheelchair. Left immediately. All in all a woeful experience.

Their website used to be second to none. A search would produce a plethora of fascinating images and info. That was then. Now, a search turns up 'no image available', and a load of unhelpful boring twaddle. What was was once an excellent resource has been completely ruined by the usual website make over wonks, cf the Rijksmuseum.

**** British Museum ***** you,ve got something special on every acasion from starting point till the end.... classic mummy's, their stories got impressive flavour to your acient age,tall *****Egyption Piramids**** got Islamic views and brings to sertain scene's of the classic movie"THE MUMMY RETUNS"in the most powerful scenes there the story began. The whole thing was created by the *****Thousands Stories ***** to share their experience to explore and express main floors of the gallery how glorious & wonderful you are....
It's like an each slice invokes the rich culinary of British Museum Ideas with a very spicy ingredients with an outstanding version can deliver the glory of the building.
Overal,***** World- Class *****significant leading package of cultural heritage written in masterpiece production companies, contributions to the tourism industry.

What I found very painful and inconsiderate was the fact that a certain part of the museum was closed, and they couldn’t even put up an online bulletin on their website to inform the public. People traveled from far and wide to see some certain exhibitions and were met with a "section is closed" sign. I could see little children who were so disappointed they couldn’t see the African Sainsbury exhibition. We were told by staff that they had to close early due to a lack of staff to monitor the exhibition area, but they had five staff members at the kiosk asking people to make donations. This is very pitiful for an organization that is supposed to showcase a major collection to the world, based in an urban tourist center. Get your act together.

Stolen Parthenon sculptures and many other items that should be returned to Greece and other countries. Nobody ever authorized their removal.

30 minute security queue, more staff handling queue than checking bags. Ironic given ongoing scandal of stqff stealing exhibits

Just been to see the ‘Life in the Roman Army’ exhibition. Some very interesting exhibits, but why, oh why, did you put all of the explanatory plaques below hip level? It is impossible to read them if someone is standing closer than a metre away from the plaque. Can’t you do as the Met in New York does and bring them up to chest or eye level? What should have been a great two hours browsing the displays turned into a painful duck and weave as one tried to read the information with it constantly being obscured by someone wandering in front of the plaque or simply queuing to look at the next exhibit.

It is not possible to get in without pre-booking.

Visited the Legion life in the Roman army exhibition. Absolutely heaving, very dark, could not read the descriptions due to jostling & shadows from other people. I gave up after 15 mins. Cut the numbers of people and put descriptions higher up. Very disappointed.

Fabulous exhibits completely overwhelmed by the number of people allowed in. Charge them £5 each and reduce the crush. Food massively overpriced if you can get to it. Toilets were like attending a football match. Shocking !

This museum is a scandal. We went on 9 April 2024 to see the Roman Legion exhibition. We paid £22 each. The place was rammed. The queue for the toilet was at least 15 minutes.
NOBODY pays. Crowds of disinterested tourists thronging the place.
The exhibition itself was underwhelming with almost no audiovisual content and overcrowded. I stood behind countless people trying to see the exhibits.
This museum is poorly presented and crowded. The solution? Charge visitors the price of a coffee to get in and improve the general environment.
In addition the cafe was unappealing and I had to wait 10 mins for a coffee. A horrible day out.

Legion:life in the Roman army. A potentially fascinating subject with fantastic artefacts was massacred by poor presentation and overcrowding

Very rude staff! One in particular I didn’t catch her name but she was an awful woman, she had zero people skills and zero ability to talk to children correctly, within seconds of walking into one particular gallery I saw her bend down in my 7 year olds daughters face and when I said to her not to approach her like that and if she had a problem with her then speak to her adult she sarcastically said “why doesn’t she speak English”
If she hates the general public she ought to rethink her job choices.

It is a national disgrace to display artifacts acquired under such questionable circumstances during the British colonial period. The staff referred to items being "found", I am sure the Greeks knew exactly what was in the Parthenon before Lord Elgin and the Army hacked the marbles off the wall. The place is poorly managed, dangerously crowded with ineffective ticketing to manage visitors and people spilling all over Great Russell Street. My children were amazed the place is even allowed and it felt wrong being there. I will not return until the government legislates to allow the museum to return the looted items from all over the world.

Recommendation- How about displaying British historical artefacts as the main collection and take foreign works on loan? Its basically a pirate's treasure haul now.

Also 25 quid to see a temporary exhibition is ridiculous.

I visit the British Museum about once a month and think it’s wonderful!

Today I made a complete hash up of my online shopping orders and ended up duplicating an order and splitting another into two separate orders. All my own fault.

I contacted the British Museum Customer Services by email and the brilliant Oren Harte got back to me within an hour and sorted everything out. Fantastic!!

This place is a total insult to common sense. Even if you pre- book a ticket you have to join a queue half a mile long. I can't think of anything I want to see so desperately to bother with this system. Well done British Museum, hundreds of unhappy customers. A terrible experience, wish I hadn't bothered.

Waiting time was a little long but overall had a good day with the family i would visit again