Stay connected read a message from our director hartwig fischer and find out other ways you can experience the museum from. Including mummy masks and the rosetta stone. Get closer to this remarkable egyptian figure on world cat day.
Welcome to the british museum discover two million years of human history and culture. In an interview with the evening standard director of the new grand egyptian museum gem tarek tawfik said he was engaged in a vivid discussion regarding the return of the stone which had allowed 19 th century scholars to understand and translate egyptian. Yesterday egypt renewed its request for the british museum to return the prized rosetta stone to its country of origin.
The ancient slab which is engraved with three languages. A n egyptian museum has renewed calls for the rosetta stone to be returned back to egypt after more than 200 years in the british museum. The rosetta stone which has inscriptions in hieroglyphic demotic and greek has been housed at the british museum since 1802 and forms the centerpiece of the museum s egyptian collection.
The rosetta stone spent the next two years in a station on the postal. Towards the end of the first world war in 1917 when the museum was concerned about heavy bombing in london they moved it to safety along with other portable important objects. The rosetta stone has been exhibited in the british museum since 1802 with only one break.
It was ceded to the british after the french capitulation in egypt and became the property of the british museum in london. The renowned rosetta stone which bears a decree of ptolemy v epiphanes in hieroglyphs demotic script and greek alphabetic characters was discovered during the expedition. Later the british consul general henry salt received permission from egypt s governor muhammad ali to collect antiquities many of which were acquired by the.
After the british defeated the french they took some of their most important finds including the rosetta stone and the sarcophagus of the last egyptian pharaoh both displayed here. Towards the end of the first world war in 1917 when the museum was concerned about heavy bombing in london they moved it to safety along with other portable important objects. The rosetta stone has been on display in the british museum since 1802 with only one break.
The rosetta stone is a granodiorite stele inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in memphis egypt in 196 bc during the ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of king ptolemy v epiphanes the top and middle texts are in ancient egyptian using hieroglyphic and demotic scripts respectively while the bottom is in ancient greek the decree has only minor differences between the three versions.
Egyptian rosetta stone british museum. Some of the british museum s best known collection items come from egypt each with their own unique story. The rosetta stone is one of the most visited objects in the museum and is equally popular online. Discover everything you ever wanted to know about the tablet that unlocked the secret of egyptian hieroglyphs.
Discover everything you ever wanted to know about the tablet that unlocked the secret of egyptian hieroglyphs. The rosetta stone is one of the most visited objects in the museum and is equally popular online. Some of the british museum s best known collection items come from egypt each with their own unique story.
