Everything about The British Museum Reading Room totally explained
The
British Museum Reading Room, situated in the centre of the
Great Court of the
British Museum, used to be the main reading room of the
British Library. In 1997, this function moved to the new British Library building at
St Pancras, London, but the Reading Room remains in its original form. Designed by
Sydney Smirke on a suggestion by the Library's Chief Librarian
Anthony Panizzi, following an earlier competition idea by
William Hosking, the Reading Room was in continual use from
1857 until its temporary closure in
1997. The Reading Room's
domed roof is metal framed, and the surface that makes up the ceiling is a type of
papier-mâché. Access was restricted to registered researchers only; however, reader's credentials were generally available to anyone who could show that they were a serious researcher.
Famous readers
The Reading Room was used by a large number of famous figures, including notably
Mohammad Ali Jinnah,
Karl Marx,
Oscar Wilde,
Mahatma Gandhi,
Rudyard Kipling,
George Orwell,
George Bernard Shaw,
Lenin,
Norbert Elias,
Arthur Rimbaud and
H. G. Wells.
Current use
Following the collection's move to the new site, the old
Reading Room was opened to the
public in
2000, following a renovation and addition of a
gridshell roof by noted
architect Norman Foster. It contains a collection of
books on
history,
art,
travel, and other subjects relevant to the British Museum's collections, on open shelves.
In 2006 the British Museum announced its plans to modify the Reading Room to house a temporary exhibition entitled 'The First Emperor: China's
Terracotta Army'. This has involved building a new floor above the existing reading desks.
References in art and popular culture
The British Museum Reading Room has become iconic. It is the subject of an eponymous poem,
The British Museum Reading Room, by
Louis MacNeice. Much of the action of
David Lodge's
1965 novel
The British Museum Is Falling Down takes place in the old Reading Room.
Alfred Hitchcock used the Reading Room and the dome of the British Museum as a location for the climax of his first sound film
Blackmail (1929). Other movies with key scenes in the Reading Room include
Night of the Demon (
1957) and
The Ipcress File (
1965). In the
2001 Japanese anime OVA Read or Die, the Reading Room is used as the secret entrance to the British Library's fictional "Special Operations Division".
Further Information
Get more info on 'British Museum Reading Room'.
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