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Finally, a chance to peek inside British Museum’s famous domed reading room

Lord knows what (or who) they’ve been hiding in there away from prying eyes

One of the most striking things about visiting the British Museum (apart from all the spooky bandaged mummies and  looted colonial artefacts , of course) is the moment when you exit the galleries and come out blinking into its vast, glass-covered central atrium. At the centre of this light and airy space is a beautiful domed Victorian building. But although many visitors climb its steps and hope for a glimpse inside, they ’ re usually turned away. This is the nerve centre of the museum: the archive, open only to scholars with a really good reason for dredging up the secrets of the past. 

Now, all that’s going to change. The British Museum has started to offer free tours that’ll give you a glimpse inside this storied space, with its grand central dome and its curving, book-lined walls. Originally it housed the British Library, which means that you ’ ll be walking in the footsteps of writers who studied there, including Arthur Conan Doyle, Karl Marx, Bram Stoker and even Lenin, who studied there under the pseudonym Jacob Richter, a name he used to evade the Tsarist authorities. When the British Library moved to its new purpose-built home in St Pancras in 2008, the round building was briefly used for British Museum exhibitions. But in 2013, that stopped, and the building was used to house the museum ’ s archive instead: thousands of books, papers, prints and objects that document its history since it was founded by an Act of Parliament in 1759.

The free tours will be the first time the public has been admitted in a decade. They will last for 20 minutes, and give you a chance to marvel at this 1857 building, which was constructed in segments on a cast iron framework, in an impressive feat of Victorian engineering. They probably won ’ t give you enough time to find a cursed Egyptian book, the reading of which will cast untold doom on you and your associates, but dream big! Life in this city is what you make it.

Discover more London museums with our handy guide . 

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We’re giving away 100 tickets to the   Sony World Photography Awards   this year.

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Dome and stacks of British Library Round Reading Room. Photo by Alex Watson ccl

Ferne Arfin   11 March 2018

Remembering the Round Reading Room at the British Museum

The British Museum plans to reorganize its collections and displays over the next ten years and the famous Round Reading Room will feature in its plans.  What will become of it we wonder.

The British Museum plans to reorganize its collections and displays over the next ten years. Visitors to Britain’s number one visitor attraction can expect a gradual evolution of the museum’s gallery spaces, providing “more compelling and coherent stories”, according to museum managers. Perhaps that means they’ll unite the monumental Egyptian statues – now on the ground floor – with the mummies and ancient artifacts that are now several floors and a maze of corridors and galleries away.

The Round Reading Room

I’m glad to hear that the overhaul will include some serious attention to the Round Reading Room and its role in the grand scheme of things. The 19th century, Grade I listed room, with its beautiful blue, cream and gold dome and its halo of 20 arched windows, holds a special place for me and many other writers. I spent the better part of one intense and memorable summer studying there.

I’d been accepted, as a mature student, onto a famous, competitive Masters degree program. It had been decades since I’d last been in a classroom and the reading list that accompanied the offer might as well have been in Chinese for all the sense I could make of it. Writers I had barely heard of, subjects of which I’d only the slightest awareness, esoteric literary criticism, advanced semiotic studies. 

And to make matters worse, almost all the books and articles were long out of print. The only place to find them was the British Library. You can’t borrow books or journals from the British Library. You have to apply for a reader’s pass, then go there and read.

I have to admit, I felt very special on the day I got my pass. The  British Library  is not a public library in the usual sense. Members of the general public can only get a reader’s pass if they need something that is not available anywhere else. But, as a graduate student I was entitled to a pass for unlimited use of the Library for a year.

Clutching my pass, I headed for the British Museum where the British Library reading room was then located – in the freestanding, drum-shaped building that now occupies the centre of the museum’s Great Court. Some books were kept there but most were in storage facilities all over London and the southeast of England. Books had to be ordered in advance and then took up to 48 hours to be delivered to the reading room.

Entering the Round Reading Room for the first time was an intimidating experience. The dome, 140 feet in diameter and just slightly smaller than the Pantheon in Rome, hung over a whispering silence, teeming with literary spirits. The only sounds that intruded were the occasional scrape of a chair, a muffled footstep, a hint of conversation at the central desk or the hiss of pencil on paper (pens were not allowed in the Round Reading Room).

Around the walls, 25 miles of bookshelves contained thousands of reference books – most other books were miles away. Five hundred desks, arranged like spokes of a bicycle wheel, filled the space below the massive dome. Each desk had its own light, its own number and its own sound reducing blotter.

The dome… hung over a whispering silence, teeming with literary spirits.

Several full, 20-volume sets of the Oxford English Dictionary, with lecterns on which to read the huge individual books anchored the ends of some of the spokes. It may seem hard to believe but it wasn’t really that long ago when scholars had to look everything up in books. Given the inscrutable language of the academic texts I struggled through that summer, I spent a lot of time at those lecterns.

My Own Private Museum

I also spent a lot of time, exploring the British Museum’s main floor galleries in virtual isolation. You see, the Library was open later than the Museum (on late nights by as much as four hours later) and the only way into the Round Reading Room was through the Museum. So some of the galleries were always accessible.

I became a regular, visiting two or three times a week and staying as late as I could. On any given night, while waiting for books (helpers still deliver the books you order from storage and stacks right to your desk), or when needing a bit of a wake up stretch and coffee in the Museum café (which kept the same hours as the Library) I might visit the Rosetta Stone , or gaze up at the monumental pink granite head of Amenhotep III.

Along corridors 6 and 12, I lingered in the half lit galleries, studying cases full of Greek, Minoan, Mesopotamian and Phoenician jewelry and hair ornaments, (some of which made its way into my own book), game pieces, tiny gold or bronze boxes and urns for ancient ointments and salves. Sometimes a museum night guard would shadow me through the galleries at a distance; sometimes a couple of other scholars would pass on the way to café. But often I had the space all to myself.

Then it was back to work in the Library, honoured to use it in the company of distinguished ghosts – Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G.Wells, George Orwell, Arthur Rimbaud, George Bernard Shaw, Bram Stoker , Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Mahatma Gandhi and, yes, Lenin and Karl Marx, who spent 40 years writing Das Kapital in this very room.

When the new British Library opened in St. Pancras in 1997, the Round Reading Room lost its purpose and it has been locked behind closed doors, with the exception of a few special exhibitions, ever since.

Great Court of the British Museum. ©Ferne Arfin

Last summer when Hartwig Fischer, director of the British Museum, announced the reorganisation of its galleries, he said the plan was to use the room as a kind of introduction to the museum, “Rest assured,” he told  The Guardian , “the Round Reading Room is at the centre of our planning … I can promise it will look absolutely stunning.”

I hope it will be more than just a pretty face.

The Great Court of the British Museum. ©Ferne Arfin. The round drum in the centre of the Great Court conceals the Round Reading Room. The double arched windows are the giveaway.

Visitor Information

The British Museum , on Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG, is open every day except December 24 through 26, New Year’s Day and Good Friday. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Fridays to 8:30 p.m. Admission, except for special exhibitions, is free. Nearest London Underground stations are Tottenham Court Road, Russell Square or Holborn.

The New British Library in St Pancras, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB,   has several public galleries where permanent and changing displays of the library’s treasures are exhibited for free. These range from the original copy of the Magna Carta to handwritten lyrics by the Beatles. There are also special exhibitions that may be ticketed. In 2018/19, the Domesday Book, on loan from the National Archives, will be part of the Anglo Saxon Kingdoms Exhibition (from October 19, 2018 to  February 19, 2019). Tickets are available online. The exhibition is open during normal library opening hours.

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Very interesting and evocative. I never went there. Now I rather wish I had.

Thanks. Glad you liked it.

I worked in the Round Reading Room and the Library, after leaving school in 1971 ,a great place to work ,have fond memories of working there

I worked there during the last thirty years of its existence. In the summer the cream of French and American universities was gathered there. They had not a minute to waste. I had two friends with good positions in the staff. They always ensured I could get booth B11 (A decisive scene takes place there in la Marque Jaune by Edgar P Jacobs), my favourite. The catalogue at that time was a pure joy, with additions stuck in. It certainly is one of the finest reading rooms in the world . Witn the removal to Saint-Pancras the British Library certainly lost one of its prominent features

I agree. While there is no doubt the current British Library at St Pancras is efficient and has many modern services, there was a magic about working in the Round Reading Room that is gone forever, whatever they eventually do with it.

It’s actually a mistake that the reading room has been closed “ever since” the British Library moved. It was open as a public reference library from 2000 to 2007 and was called the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Centre, and anyone could come in and study. In 2005 they banned people from bringing in rucksacks in reaction to then recent terrorist incidents, which made it much less useful if you needed, say, to bring a laptop. In 2007 the reference library was removed (the museum library moved to another room, which also later closed) and that’s when it came to be used for exhibition space, and even that ended in 2013.

Thanks for that information. I was a regular user of the British Library through that period. When the round reading room ceased being used as the British Library it become, in essence, a tourist attraction. It may have been offered as a general reference library for the public but the through traffic of gawkers made it virtually useless for study and work. So even if it may have been open to view and walk through and use the reference books, it was no longer The Round Reading Room of the British Library.

Great and Interesting. I wish to see the reading room physically soon IA.

I’m afraid it has been closed for several years.

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The Secret London Guide To The British Museum

Planning a visit to the British Museum can feel pretty darn overwhelming, but fear not: Secret London is here to give you the lowdown, as always.

In the pantheon of museums in London , one stands out from the crowd. By virtue of being the biggest, oldest , and for a long time (before the Natural History Museum came and knocked it of its pedestal) the most popular of London museums; the British Museum is a titanic cultural attraction. It’s also one of many free things to do in London , giving it that extra penny-pinching appeal. So, with all this going for it, planning a visit to the British Museum may seem pretty overwhelming. Well, fear not: as always, Secret London is here with the lowdown.

What is the British Museum?

So, just incase you didn’t know; the British Museum is the world’s oldest national public museum . Inside, you’ll find collections of art , literature , and other artefacts telling the story of human history. Over six million people visit each year, which is more than the population of Libya – impressive, right? It consistently held the title of the most popular tourist attraction in the UK for over a decade – and is now still in an admirable third position.

The British Museum was founded in 1753 and opened in 1759, making it older than the USA(?!). It was created by an Act of Parliament to accommodate the collection of Sir Hans Sloane , who also gives his name to Sloane Square . A vast number of treasures have since been acquired by the museum over the years. The British Museum is split into sections corresponding to areas and time periods. You’ll find separate wings for Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas , spread across three floors. Oh, and a drop dead gorgeous glass roof covering the stunning Great Court.

The British Museum has become so big over the years that it’s had to expand twice – once to a site in Kensington , the other now located in St Pancras . These expansions became, respectively, the Natural History Museum and the British Library . The British Museum also has a fabulous Reading Room , which has finally reopened to the public recently (yippee).

What should I see at the British Museum?

It may be called the British Museum , but most of the objects have actually been loaned from other countries or purchased from private collections. You also can’t escape the fact that many items were claimed by underhand tactics of the British Empire , leading several countries to demand the return of their artefacts. Since there are eight million objects here, we’ve selected the top things to see at the British Museum. You can thank us later.

1. The Rosetta Stone

Not just an expensive language guide, you know. The ancient translation tool is written in both Egyptian and Greek, and is the reason we can read hieroglyphics. Carved in 196BC, it also happens to be the British Museum’s most visited object, so you’ll need to be patient to get to the front.

2. Easter Island moai

Easter Island is a bit of a trek, but since the British Museum has one of the famed heads in its collection, you only need go as far as Bloomsbury.

3. Egyptian mummies

The British Museum has a long history with mummies, having hosted Tutankhamun’s treasures in 1972. Today, you can find sarcophagi, the mummy of Katebet, and mummified pets, including cats and fish. Just lovely…

4. Parthenon sculptures

These figures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, have seen a never-ending saga of ownership which shows no sign of stopping. Greece claims they were illegally taken after Lord Elgin made a dodgy deal with the ruling Ottoman Empire, whilst the UK maintains it was a legal purchase under the laws of the time. Regardless of which side you take, you can enjoy the beautiful sculptures in a gigantic hall in the British Museum’s west wing, and learn a lot about ancient Greece in the process.

5. Aztec serpent

A fascinating lot, were the Aztecs. When they weren’t busy indulging in ritual sacrifice, the Aztec created beautiful objects, like this stunning double-headed serpent mosaic. Find it on the ground floor of the British Museum.

6. Olduvai stone chopping tool

It looks fairly unremarkable, until you discover it’s the oldest human-made artefact in the British Museum. At a whopping 1.8 million years old, this stone tool is quietly one of the most impressive objects in the entire building.

7. Egyptian scutpture

When you think of the British Museum, this is probably the first thing that comes to mind. A huge hall, full of busts of Egyptian gods and kings, this is one of the museum’s most impressive sights.

8. Winged bulls of Assyria

They once guarded the gates in the ancient cities of Nimrud and Khorsabad in Iraq, but now the bulls take up residence at the British Museum, looking downright imposing.

9. Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and you can find parts of it at the British Museum. Statues from the mausoleum can be found in the Ancient Greek wing on the ground floor.

10. Shrine of Amaravati

In a corner gallery of the British Museum, you’ll find the Great Shrine of Amaravati, painstakingly recreated to fill the whole room. It was one of the oldest and largest Buddhist shrines in India, and is definitely worth a visit.

11. Lampedusa cross

Not everything in here is ancient. The Lampedusa Cross was acquired by the British Museum in 2015, to commemorate the 359 refugees who died when their boat sank off of the coast of Lampedusa in October 2013. A local carpenter, Francesco Tuccio, carved the cross out of the wreckage of the boat, making a hugely poignant artefact in the process.

The Round Reading Room at the British Museum

Located smack bang in the Great Court of the British Museum is the Round Reading Room . The room was once the site of the British library, before it relocated to its current home in St Pancras in 2008 . It also dates back all the way to 1857 ! As such, it has been privy to such visitors and students ranging from Arthur Conan Doyle to Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker and even Lenin.

Following the relocation of the library , the room was used as an exhibit space briefly, before finding its current role: storing the museum’s archive of books and papers and objects that trace the museum’s history. The British Museum is now offering guided tours of the space – giving bibliophiles a chance to check out the legendary archival room.

The tour will only last twenty minutes, and the volunteer tour guides will be keeping a close eye on visitors – so you won’t be able to sneak off and investigate the centuries old documents. And, no, it’s not a library so you won’t be able to borrow any of the books. Nonetheless, it’s a pretty impressive sight for bookworms and history buffs alike .

Tours run once a week and are completely free , but do require signing up ahead of time. Oh, and they only have space for 20 people in each tour group, so you’ll definitely want to give yourself plenty of time to book ahead. Find out when the next tour is running and book your space here .

Anything else I should know?

We’d advise you get to the British Museum nice and early if you want to beat the crowds and avoid the queues. Alternatively, the British Museum is open late on Fridays , giving you ample time to wander round the galleries after most people have left. Picking up a map for £2 will give you their “Top 10 objects to see” tour, which will take you through most of the major galleries (a cheap paper copy, without the top 10, is available for a “suggested donation”). Alternatively, audio guides can be rented for £7, and come in 10 languages.

The British Museum is free to enter , but donations are welcome; you’ll find donation points scattered around the open areas. Small bags can be left in their cloakroom, but large luggage (such as wheely cases) is forbidden. For a fee, a nearby hotel may hold onto them for you. A number of tours, events and exhibitions are held at the British Museum – find the schedule and how much they cost here .

Food and drink

No fewer than four eating options at the British Museum. Casual fares come in the form of the Court Cafe and the Coffee Lounge . The museum also offers an on-site Pizzeria and the Great Court Restaurant is the fancier spot , serving seasonal mains under the museum’s stunning roof.

Best spot for photos

The Great Court is massively Insta-worthy . But for a different view of the British Museum, head to the viewing platform on Level 3 for a dramatic elevated vista .

Before you go

The British Museum is the largest indoor space mapped on Google Street View . If time is tight, browse around ahead of your visit and pick out what you want to see.

Final word of warning

Be on the lookout for the vengeful ghost of an Egyptian god. Amun-ra is supposedly a resident of the Egyptian Room, and he’s been rumoured to snatch people from nearby Holborn station . Spooky, right?

The British Museum is open daily from 10am-5pm (10am-8.30pm on Fridays) and the nearest station is Tottenham Court Road. Find out more and plan your visit here .

Also published on Medium .

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After ten years, the British Museum’s Reading Room is still out of bounds

Glacial progress being made on reopening the magnificent domed space at the heart of the institution.

The Reading Room in happier times, in the early 2000s, not long after the British Library moved to its new purpose-built home in Kings Cross. For now, the space is used for storage and handing of the museum’s archives The Trustees of the British Museum

This month marks ten years since the British Museum’s Round Reading Room was closed to visitors. One of the most awe-inspiring architectural spaces in the capital, it now remains a distant memory for Londoners.

George Osborne, the museum’s chairman, said last November that the closure is “not acceptable”. Since then, weekly 20-minute tours have been introduced, but with just 20 people per tour. Five years ago Hartwig Fischer, the museum’s former director, told The Art Newspaper that the reading room “needs to be an integral part of the museum”, adding: “It should be a space where you can understand in a condensed way what this museum is about.”

Progress in reopening the Reading Room has been painfully slow—in the meantime it is being used as a storage and handling facility for the museum’s archives. A few original desks have been temporarily removed and much of the floor is now covered with archival boxes, leaving a dispiriting impression of this grand space.

Designed by Sydney Smirke and opened in 1857, the enormous, 43m-diameter room was inspired by the Pantheon temple in Rome. The room served readers of the British Museum Library (later the British Library) until it moved in 1997. After 2007 a temporary platform was built above the desks, providing a venue for exhibitions until the museum’s new extension was opened. But since September 2013 the room has been closed.

The challenge is to provide space for displays, since the dense configuration of original desks needs to be retained in what is a listed building. Reopening is still years away: it will require planning permission, fundraising, building work and the creation of a display. Hopefully, it will be worth the wait.

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Visit the British Library

You can visit our buildings in London or Yorkshire for free, although our services are currently limited.

In London you can use our St Pancras Reading Rooms and public desks for personal study, and visit all our galleries, including the free Treasures Gallery. We've also got events, courses, activities for schools, our Business and IP Centre, and if you're a British Library Member, you can visit our Members' Room.

In Yorkshire you can use our Boston Spa Reading Room. We also have a growing programme of workshops, events and exhibitions in Leeds and the surrounding area.

We're continuing to experience a major technology outage as a result of a cyber-attack , but our buildings remain open.

Opening times

St pancras, london, building opening times.

This includes our public spaces, our Members' Room, our permanent Treasures Gallery and our Entrance Hall display space, with the exception of special event days, when these areas may close earlier.

Holiday opening hours are 11.00-17.00. Applies on 6 and 27 May , and 26 August . Reading Rooms and Reader Registration are closed all day.

On 25 April the building closes at 18:00, Reading Rooms close at 17.00. From 17.00, visitors are requested to enter/exit the building via Gate 8. Bicycle racks on the Piazza are not accessible for the whole day.

The Treasures Gallery will be closed on 10 June due to scheduled maintenance.

View exhibition opening times and Business & IP Centre opening times .

St Pancras, London, Reading Rooms opening times

Maps, Manuscripts and Asian & African Studies close at 17.00.

The Reading Rooms are closed 6 and 27 May , and 26 August . On 25 April Reading Rooms close at 17:00.

St Pancras, London, Reader Registration opening times

Reader Registration is closed 6 and 27 May , and 26 August .

Boston Spa, Yorkshire, Reading Room opening times

We are closed 6 and 27 May , and 26 August .

Where is the British Library?

The main entrance to our St Pancras site is 96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB.

Our Boston Spa site is located at Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS23 7BQ.

We'll get back to you as quickly as we can but are currently experiencing a high volume of enquiries so it may take us some time to respond.

Cloakrooms and lockers

Visitors to our Reading Rooms are required to leave coats and bags in the cloakroom or in a locker. If you're visiting our exhibition galleries you will also need to leave backpacks in the cloakroom. Our cloakroom and digital lockers are free to use, located on the Lower Ground Floor. Please note our cloakroom is closed on Sundays, but you can use our lockers.

Large luggage

We restrict the size of luggage you can bring into the Library to airline ‘carry on’ size. Any luggage larger than 56 (H) x 45 (W) x 25 (D) cm will not be allowed into the British Library for safety and security reasons. There is a size gauge outside our entrance.

Please note that this size restriction does not apply to pushchairs, foldaway bicycles, umbrellas or walking sticks.

E-scooters, e-bicycles and e-unicycles are not permitted.

Refreshments

Eat, drink, shop.

You'll find delicious hot and cold food and drinks at the cafés and restaurant at our London site to keep you going during your visit.

Find beautiful books, fantastic fairy tales, classic crime stories and more in our shops. You can visit us in the London Entrance Hall or online shop .

Free wifi is available. No username or password is required but you will need to agree to the Terms and Conditions to access it.

Last Word community hub

We've opened The Last Word community hub in our Piazza, which is the new base for our Community Engagement team. Here they'll meet Camden residents and host a range of activities with and for local people. The hub will also showcase changing displays of community projects for everyone to enjoy.

Open Monday – Saturday 10.00 – 16.00, but times will vary to respond to community needs.

Accessibility

Accessibility at our st pancras, london site, blue badge parking.

Parking bays for Blue Badge holders can be found on Ossulston Street.

Our Ossulston Street entrance is fully ramped and is approximately 100 metres from the main entrance. There are also public metered bays in this area.

Step-free access and seating

All floors have step-free access, including into all our Reading Rooms, events spaces, exhibitions and Learning Centre.

All Reading Room doors as well as entrances to the Knowledge Centre have button-assisted opening.

Seating is available for visitors around the building. Folding gallery stools are available in the galleries.

Accessible toilets

Accessible toilets can be found on all floors.

The nearest Changing Places toilet is at King's Cross station.

Wheelchairs

Manual wheelchairs can be borrowed free of charge, subject to availability. Please ask a member of staff on arrival.

Please note that assistance cannot be provided in the use of these wheelchairs.

Guide and assistance dogs

We welcome guide dogs and assistance dogs. Dog bowls are available at the Information Desk, Reading Rooms and all cafés.

Hearing support systems

Hearing induction loops are installed at the following locations:

• all Reading Room enquiry desks
• Mark Piggott Theatre and Elliot Room
• Information Desk.

All other Knowledge Centre meeting rooms have Infra Red Hearing Support Systems.

The Mark Piggott Theatre also operates the Sennheiser MobileConnect system. This is a digital hearing system that gives users individual control over their feed by broadcasting to an app. The app is available on both Android and IOS devices, downloadable from their respective app stores.

To use the system, download the app to your device. If you don't have a smartphone, you can borrow one of three pre-loaded devices on arrival at the Knowledge Centre. Just speak to a member of staff.

Concession tickets

Concessions are available for disabled visitors for ticketed exhibitions and events. Free tickets are available for personal assistants and these tickets can be booked via See Tickets .

Reading Rooms

Our Reading Rooms in St Pancras, London are located on Floors 1, 2 and 3.

To use our Reading Rooms, you must first get a free Reader Pass at Reader Registration on the Upper Ground Floor at St Pancras or Reception in Boston Spa. If you are visiting with an assistant or carer, both of you will need a Reader Pass.

Our Reading Rooms contain height-adjustable tables and lowered service desks, alternative keyboards, and specialist equipment and facilities for Readers with visual and hearing impairments.

For any assistance within the Reading Rooms, please speak to Reading Room staff or contact [email protected] in advance of your visit.

Accessibility at our Boston Spa, Yorkshire site

Entering the site.

The Boston Spa site in Yorkshire is located at the entrance to the Thorp Arch Trading Estate. You will be stopped at our gatehouse by a security barrier if you are travelling by car, or by our security team in the security office at the site entrance.

There are numerous blue badge parking spaces available for the Reading Rooms. As you enter the Boston Spa site our Security Team will advise on the best parking area.

Step-free access and seating for wheelchair users

Access to the Reading Room in Boston Spa and Reader Registration is all on one level. The Reading Room door has button-assisted opening. The Reading Room has a height-adjustable desk for Readers to use.

There is an accessible toilet next to the Reading Room.

Guide and assistance dogs are welcome in the building. Dog bowls are available.

Induction loops

Hearing induction loops are installed at Reception, Reader Registration, the Reading Room and Conference Centre.

Reading Room

The Reading Room has alternative keyboards and facilities for people with visual and hearing impairments.

To use our Reading Rooms, you must first get a free Reader Pass at Reception in Boston Spa. If you are visiting with an assistant or carer, both of you will need a Reader Pass.

If you require a private facility for medical reasons during your visit, please contact [email protected] in advance of your visit.

Please note that the Reading Room in Boston Spa does not have air conditioning.

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Tickets Alert: Tours of the British Museum’s round reading room

Xtickets alert: tours of the british museum’s round reading room.

Sitting in the centre of the British Museum is a huge Round Reading Room , with a massive dome, and although long closed to the public, the museum has started offering tours.

(c) British Museum

The Reading Room was built for the British Library when it occupied the space, but when the library decamped to St Pancras and the courtyard cleared of books to create the indoor space it is today – the library reading room was also opened to the general public for only the second time in its history.

The museum put a temporary floor in to use the space for exhibitions in 2007, but that stopped in 2013 and is now used to house the museum’s archive . Sadly, that means the room has been pretty much off limits to visitors for the past decade.

Until now…

The museum is starting to offer short tours of the room that lets you go inside for the first time in a decade and see the magnificent dome and the space where some of the most famous (infamous?) writers studied. Such as Karl Marx, Lenin (who signed in under the name Jacob Richter) and novelists such as Bram Stoker and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The tours are free, and need to be booked in advance from here .

The tours take place on Tuesdays and start at 11.30am, lasting 20 minutes. Meet at the information desk.

New tour dates will be released monthly – and March tickets are on sale at the moment, but if March is sold out, put a note in your diary for 7th March as that’s when the April tickets will be released.

Photography is not permitted in the Round Reading Room.

(You used to be able to look down into the Reading Room from the Great Court restaurant , but they blocked off the windows for the exhibitions and they’ve been blocked off ever since, which apart from stopping people from seeing inside the reading room, killed off the “secret perk” for getting tables next to the windows for the amazing view.)

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One comment

after the British Library moved but before they decided to use it as an exhibition space, for a time it reverted to being a library. It was a great place to sit, pull a book from the shelves and read or if you were a student at UCL find yourself a space to work. The shelves were partially filled, if I remember rightly with donated books from the personal library of one of the trustees, I remember pulling a book from the shelves on early Chinese art, being amazed at some Han dynasty paintings, but time was pressing and I never finished the book, next time I said to myself, but there was no next time. Its a real shame that they couldn’t have continued using the library as a library; but I guess having a space that they could use as a revenue earning exhibition space seemed more attractive.

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National museum of american history acquires marcella hazan culinary tools.

Marcella Hazan, courtesy of Victor Hazan.

Marking the centennial of Marcella Hazan’s (1924–2013) birth, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has received a donation from the family of the influential cookbook author and legendary teacher of regional Italian cuisine in the United States and United Kingdom. Hazan is widely known for her six cookbooks on the cuisines of Italy, published between 1973 and 2004. Her husband Victor Hazan, an authority on Italian food and wine, and son Giuliano, a chef and cooking teacher, donated 20 of her specialized Italian cooking tools, including a passatelli press, garganelli pasta comb, a mattarello for rolling out pasta, her wood cutting board, lasagna pan and her cotton apron to the museum’s food history collections. The donation also includes a selection of her recipe notebooks, written in Italian, that will be housed in the museum’s Archives Center.

“As the nation’s flagship history museum, home to the beloved Julia Child’s kitchen, we explore and share the wonderfully vast and complicated intersections of history and food,” said Anthea M. Hartig, the museum’s Elizabeth MacMillan Director. “Understanding the richness of our culinary traditions alongside the complexities of the nation’s past helps us make sense of contemporary experiences and enables us to move forward and create a better shared future.”

“Through her popular books, Marcella Hazan introduced American and British cooks to a wide range of ingredients, culinary techniques and regional dishes at a time when many in the U.S. had no understanding of the diversity of Italian cuisines,” said museum curator Paula Johnson. “Her story is one of diligence and excellence, and we are thrilled that her legacy will be preserved in our national collections through these objects.”

“We are elated that Marcella’s life work, her tools, her recipes, notes and books have found a home in the permanent collections at the Smithsonian,“ Victor Hazan said. “Some of the tools that were knocking about Marcella’s kitchen had also knocked about her mother’s kitchen, and previously, in her grandmother’s, but as Marcella said the best kitchen tools are a cook’s hands, which was a bold statement from a woman whose right hand became deformed and limited in use after a childhood accident.”

Hazan’s cooking style was influenced by her upbringing in the fishing village of Cesenatico, Italy. The produce from her family’s garden and fresh fish inspired her lifelong quest for fresh ingredients while she also practiced the Italian style of simple, efficient approaches to cooking and eating. Hazan immigrated to the United States with her husband in 1955, and they made their home in New York City where she opened a small cooking school in her apartment in 1969 and published her first cookbook, The Classic Italian Cookbook, in 1973. Through her cookbooks, she introduced readers to the structure of the traditional Italian meal and to dishes and techniques largely unknown outside of Italy; she used ingredients such as balsamic vinegar and pesto and explained how to make fresh pasta. Hazan was the recipient of numerous awards, including the International Association of Culinary Professionals Lifetime Achievement Award (2004), Cavaliere della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana Award (2003) and the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award (2000).

About the Museum

Through incomparable collections, rigorous research and dynamic public outreach, the National Museum of American History seeks to empower people to create a more just and compassionate future by examining, preserving and sharing the complexity of our past. The museum, located on Constitution Avenue N.W., between 12th and 14th streets, is open daily except Dec. 25, between 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. The doors of the museum are always open online and the virtual museum continues to expand its offerings, including online exhibitions, PK–12 educational materials and programs. The public can follow the museum on social media on Instagram and Facebook . For more information, go to https://americanhistory.si.edu . For Smithsonian information, the public may call (202) 633-1000.

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Valeska Hilbig

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The Top Things to Do in Moscow

As a vibrant capital and Europe’s largest city, Moscow is a powerful mix of history and edginess, full of world-famous sites. Russia ’s capital was just a small town when it was first recorded 800 years ago, but there is enough here today to keep you busy for months. Here’s the ultimate first-timer’s list of things to do in Moscow, from exploring the Kremlin and St Basil’s Cathedral to getting a cable car from Sparrow Hills or skating in Gorky Park.

Did you know – Culture Trip now does bookable, small-group trips? Pick from authentic, immersive Epic Trips , compact and action-packed Mini Trips and sparkling, expansive Sailing Trips .

The heart of Russia’s capital, Red Square is surrounded by striking sites including the Kremlin, St Basil’s Cathedral and Lenin’s Mausoleum, and is where so much of the country’s history has unfolded. What was once a humble market square has become known as the place where rebels have been executed, protests staged and military strength put on show throughout Russia’s tumultuous history.

However long you’re visiting Moscow for, you must set aside some time to soak up the archetypal image of Russia’s capital with the glistening rainbow roofs of St Basil’s Cathedral. The onion-shaped domes were designed to make the building look like flames on a bonfire. The cathedral was commissioned in the 1500s by Ivan the Terrible and according to legend, the Tsar thought it so beautiful he ordered that the architect be blinded so they would never surpass this creation.

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Lenin’s Mausoleum

The love-it-or-hate-it of Russia attractions, Lenin’s Mausoleum houses a glass sarcophagus containing the embalmed body of the legendary Russian revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin. First opened to the public in August 1924, the Mausoleum attracts around 2.5m visitors a year, who presumably don’t mind queueing and going through a thorough search to enter Lenin’s presence.

Moscow Kremlin

The biggest active fortress in Europe , Moscow’s Kremlin offers a week’s worth of attractions on its own. Once you get behind the 2,235m (7,332ft) of walls, there are five squares to wander around, various buildings to explore, 20 towers to learn the names of, and the world’s largest bell and cannon to see.

State Historical Museum

An attraction in its own right, the State Historical Museum, founded in 1872 by Ivan Zabelin and Aleksey Uvarov, was once the principal medicine store, also containing antiquaries owned by the royal family. It now houses an impressive collection, which includes relics of prehistoric tribes that once inhabited the territory of present-day Russia, the country’s largest coin collection, as well as 6th-century manuscripts and artworks collected by the Romanov dynasty, among other treasures.

Russia’s main department store, GUM’s stunning interior houses a variety of high-end boutiques. Built between 1890 and 1893 and known as the Upper Trading Rows until the 1920s, the legendary store is now home to over 100 boutiques selling a variety of brands: from luxurious Dior to the more affordable Zara. Even if shopping is not on your list of what to do in Moscow, the GUM is still worth a visit; the glass-roofed arcade faces Red Square and offers a variety of classy eateries.

Arbat Street

An elegant, pedestrianised street right in the historic city centre, Arbat is one of Moscow’s most touristy spots. With lots of cafes and restaurants , live music performers and caricaturists, as well as souvenir shops and tattoo parlours, monuments and a theatre, Arbat draws crowds of visitors every day.

Tretyakov Gallery

Built between 1900 and 1905, Tretyakov Gallery started as the private collection of the Tretyakov brothers, who were 19th-century philanthropists. Designed by Viktor Vasnetsov, the gallery is home to one of the largest collections of Russian art in the world. Here you can see icons including Rublev’s Trinity, and pre-revolutionary masterpieces such as Girl With Peaches by Valentin Serov, Demon by Mikhail Vrubel and The Rooks Have Come Back by Alexei Savrasov.

Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

The largest foreign art museum in Moscow comprises three branches housing a collection of incredible works by masters of ancient civilisations, the Italian Renaissance and the Dutch Golden Age. The main building contains masterpieces by Botticelli, Tiepolo, Veronese and Rembrandt, some of which had never been displayed before. The Gallery of European and American Art, located next door, stores an incredible collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings.

Moscow’s premier green space, Gorky Park offers entertainment for every taste: outdoor dancing sessions, yoga and fitness classes all summer, as well as beach volleyball and ping-pong, rollerblading, skateboarding and cycling opportunities, along with Segway and boat rentals. In winter, half the park turns into one of the city’s biggest ice skating rinks. The park is also home to an open-air movie theatre and one of the less obvious places to visit in Moscow for art lovers, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

Sparrow Hills

If you take a walk from Gorky Park along the Moscow river embankment, you’ll end up in the city’s other legendary park, Sparrow Hills. Although the park doesn’t offer as many activities as its hip neighbour, here you can take a closer look at the tallest of the seven Stalinist skyscrapers (the Moscow State University), admire the view from the observation deck or get a cable car ride.

Bolshoi Theatre

Opened in 1856, the legendary Bolshoi Theatre is one of the pest places in Moscow for an evening of entertainment. It’s the home of Bolshoi Ballet and the Bolshoi Opera – among the oldest and most famous ballet and opera companies in the world. Alongside the classics, the theatre also stages contemporary works by young international composers and choreographers. The theatre’s imperial decor was restored in a six-year refurbishment that finished in 2011.

VDNKh All-Russian Exhibition Centre

The enormous VDNKh contains about 400 buildings and is said to cover an area bigger than Monaco. The centre started out as the all-Soviet agricultural exhibition in 1935, and now serves as an open-air museum of Soviet architecture. With the iconic fountain at its entrance, the park complex is home to a number of museums, shopping pavilions, multiple eateries , a massive oceanarium, a zip-line, a horse-riding rink and a Russian space shuttle. In winter a skating rink opens – the largest in Europe.

Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve

The former summer residence of Empress Catherine the Great was commissioned in 1775, and succumbed to deterioration during the Soviet era. The whole of Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve has been fundamentally renovated since the 1980s to look even brighter than the original. With its opulently decorated buildings, gardens, meadows and forests, Tsaritsyno Park is the perfect place for a green respite in Moscow.

Mostly known for the city’s largest flea market, the district of Izmaylovo is home to a maze of shops where you can get just about anything: from handmade items to Soviet antiquities. It’s also one of Moscow’s largest green spaces, where you can hide from the city buzz.

Ostankino TV Tower

Built in 1967, Ostankino TV Tower was the tallest free-standing construction in the world at the time. Now it’s still the best observation deck with a glass floor and 360 degree views. So be sure to book one of the hourly tours; the speedy elevators will take you 337m (1,105ft) in no time.

Kolomenskoye

A 10-minute metro ride from the city centre will take you to Kolomenskoe Museum-Reserve, where you can get an idea of what Medieval Moscow looked like. Here you’ll find ancient churches (one dating back to the 16th century), the oldest garden in Moscow and a favourite estate of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich, father of Peter the Great.

Novodevichy Convent

Founded in 1524, the Novodevichy Convent is a place steeped in history. Behind the walls that once served as a fortress, there are four cathedrals with a fascinating icon collection and a venerable cemetery. Back in the day it was common for women from noble families to retire in monasteries, and the Novodevichy Convent had some notable residents such as Princess Sophia and Eudoxia Lopukhina, both related to Peter the Great (and imprisoned by him). The former was his half-sister who claimed the throne; the latter was his first wife, who stood in the way of his marriage to Catherine I.

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

One of Russia’s most visited cathedrals, Christ the Saviour is a truly remarkable site. The grandiose cathedral was built in the 1990s where a 19th-century church of the same name stood before it was demolished in 1931 by the Soviet authorities. Designed to look like its predecessor, the modern building also contains the icon Christ Not Painted by Hand by Sorokin, which survived the demolition of the original cathedral. The cathedral was the site of feminist punk collective Pussy Riot’s 2012 protest that led to the imprisonment of several members.

Moscow City

Home to Europe’s tallest office building, Moscow City, also referred to as Moscow International Business Centre, is one Russia’s most ambitious engineering projects of recent years. With its various high-rises, the business district is where you should come for great crowd-free shopping and the best panoramic views of the city.

Izmailovsky Market

For those on a budget, ditch window shopping at the exclusive GUM and take a foray into the bustling world of Izmailovsky, Russia’s best flea market. Delve into the bargains, rifle through the artisan crafts, admire the local handiwork and be tempted by the silky smooth traditional fur hats. Expect walls of matryoshka dolls, fascinating Soviet memorabilia, and glittering hand-crafted jewellery. Head up to one of Izmailovsky market’s cafes for a warming mulled wine before continuing your shopping spree.

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A reckoning for the British Museum

Haunted by scandal, the museum has become a “black hole” for artefacts. It’s time to bring it down, says Noah Angell.

By Kathleen Jamie

Do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe that unhappy spirits can walk, slam doors, go bump in the night? Do you believe that objects can retain potency even, or perhaps especially, if violently uprooted from their culture of origin?

Here’s a less occult question: does anyone actually know what is in the British Museum (BM), that five-hectare compound, with its many-levelled 18th-century building plus its various outposts and stores? It is reputed to house eight million artefacts, not necessary fully catalogued, of which only a tiny fraction are displayed. As Noah Angell writes: “The British Museum is only marginally an exhibition space; in material terms it’s mostly a site of disappearance.” The objects disappear, and disappear again. This book closes just after the scandal broke about the hundreds of thefts from the museum, the subsequent sales on eBay, the resignations: proof, as the author has it, that the BM has no claim to being a safe steward of anyone’s cultural artefacts.

Noah Angell, an American in London, is an artist interested in storytelling and oral history. He comes from North Carolina, “a place of many ghosts” where “trauma is soaked into the land”. It was where the slave-dependent plantation system was first established, and where, as a child, he says he saw and sensed uncanny figures in the woods. “Haint” is the word there, noun and verb, for ghost and haunt. The plantation system is gone, unless you accept what Angell says, that it is internalised in the US psyche, in racialised politics and extrajudicial violence. Plantations enriched 18th-century men such as Hans Sloane, “who didn’t plant a damned thing” but used his wealth to collect artefacts, animals and plants, and whose collection became the basis of the British Museum, founded in 1753 .

An oral historian, Angell keeps his ears open. In the pub (the book often repairs to the various pubs of Bloomsbury and Holborn, where Angell’s interlocutors may feel more at ease) he overheard a tableful of BM workers telling ghost stories, and so it began. He put a notice on the museum’s internal noticeboard, and began tracking down people with unnerving stories to tell. He conducted interviews across seven years, often with the lower-waged non-curatorial staff: the cleaners, janitors and security wardens, especially those on “permanent nights”, whose task it is to patrol the “endless bloody corridors” and places the public doesn’t see. Sometimes those nights are disturbed.

Many of his interviewees wished to remain anonymous, as they didn’t want to appear ridiculous. But their stories tell of strange figures “photo-bombing” tourists’ pictures, of mystery footsteps and books that fall off shelves in empty rooms. There are glimpses of rushing figures, “sentries”, and figures in frock-coats. (Some ghosts, it has to be said, are very much alive. One cleaner was discovered actually living in a cupboard in the museum.) There are presences, sightings, strange floating orbs of light visible on CCTV, but not to the staff sent to check. There are wilful doors, such as the heavy oak fireproof ones that close off Room 41, where the Sutton Hoo treasures are shown. These need the wardens’ full bodyweight to shut and secure at the end of the day. They remain shut all night, except when CCTV shows that they’ve opened themselves of their own accord.

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Then there are the “restless objects” themselves: tales surfaced of how the medieval Christian relics reacted badly when their gallery was converted to one of Islamic artefacts. Of the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet, represented by figurines originally looted from mortuary temples, which caused trouble when moved into a new gallery space, where the figurines couldn’t oversee the door. They were moved back. The Nereid Monument – an entire tomb – is said to make music, and is also given to creating or attracting orbs of light. Perhaps, staff say, someone attached to the object came with it. Perhaps there is something in “stone tape theory”, an idea conceived in Bloomsbury which postulates that buildings and objects operate as “recording devices”, absorbing energies.

And what energies they have had to absorb. The Elgin Marbles and the Benin Bronzes are only the best known of the contested artefacts. The Elgin Marbles, Angell writes, “brand the UK as an unrepentant kleptocracy”. The Benin Bronzes represent another episode when the British colonial machine could stand accused of looting, theft and violence; they were taken even as their home city burned. Scattered across many museums, some are now trickling back to Nigeria – but not the BM’s.

These objects, and the millions of others, all have their stories, and if Angell and his interviewees are to be believed, many have their disquiets, angers, sorrows and pains. That is before we even begin with the human remains: the mummified children, the coffins containing headless bodies, “a gathering of the dead as loot”. In the museum there are 6,000 “sets” of human remains, actual bodies or artefacts made from human tissue.

In this account, the museum is not so much a place of display and education, with the occasional thrilling ghost, as seriously unnerving. Angell says he wasn’t much aware of the UK’s colonial past when he began his project. But he has come to conclude “there is something dangerously out of balance in the heart of Bloomsbury”; that the “British Museum is a hive of unrest”.

A hive of unrest; and a vast oubliette. A symbol in plain sight of Great Britain’s great forgetting: of its colonial past, its violence and avarice. Forgotten or elided with a sleight of hand, objects associated with the slave trade are filed under “Africa”, not “Britain”.

The museum’s core function, Angell says, is storage. There are basements where few venture; no one fully knows what is down there. There is rumoured to be an entire Ethiopian monastery. There are certainly Ethiopian Orthodox Christian relics, admitted to the museum after the bloody Battle of Maqdala in 1868, in which hundreds of Abyssinians were killed and a staggering amount of loot was auctioned off by the British soldiery. Agents of the British Museum were there in person, bidding away. There is a shooting range and an air-raid shelter. The River Fleet runs under the museum, in pipes. There exist energies and spirits that are “mournful, aggrieved, homesick, ungrounded”. The headless bodies are in the basement, in their coffins “like a foundation sacrifice”.

A reader might well do as Angell did himself: come for the delicious ghost stories but stay for a complete takedown of the British Museum project. It is, the author says, a “black hole”, “an opulent and obscene trophy case”, a relic in itself, a colonial-era experiment for which the slave trade was foundational, and which, like a ghost, cannot admit it has outlived its time. What to do? “We live in a time of colonial reckoning, and a time of the reclamation of indigenous knowledge.” Bring it down, he says. Let communities reclaim what is theirs, and let the house of spirits fall.

Kathleen Jamie is a poet and essayist. Her most recent book is “Cairn” (Sort of Books)

Ghosts of the British Museum: A True Story of Colonial Loot and Restless Objects Noah Angell Monoray, 256pp, £20

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[See also: Inside the rise of Ziggy Stardust ]

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Everything you need to know about the Red Square – in one place (INFOGRAPHICS + PHOTOS)

Without a doubt, the majority of people who visit Moscow for the first time, have it on their agenda – the most famous square of Russia.

What’s located on the Red Square?

The distance between the entrance to the Red Square from the State Historical Museum side and the Kremlin Embankment is slightly more than 700 meters. A leisurely walk along it takes on average about 15-20 minutes. And yet, a large number of world-famous attractions fit within such a compact territory.

One of them is the colorful, many-domed    Saint Basil’s Cathedral , which appeared during the period of 1555-1561 in honor of Moscow’s victory over the Khanate of Kazan. The cathedral is shrouded in    mystery and legends , the majority of which are about its construction and its commissioner – Ivan the Terrible.

Lenin’s Mausoleum appeared on the Red Square (however, not with its modern look) in 1924. Before it, the Alevizov Moat stood in its place, where lions were kept under Ivan the Terrible’s rule (read more about it in    5 things that were once in place of Lenin's Mausoleum ). But, ever since the Soviet leader found his peace on the Red Square, the Mausoleum has been the    target of heated discussions . But, as long as it stands where it is now, anyone can visit it:    here we detail how and when to do it best.

Right behind the Mausoleum, you will find the red brick wall of    the Moscow Kremlin and its most iconic symbol - the Spasskaya Tower. From a very early age, every Russian knows the clock of the Spasskaya Tower, since the strikes of this very clock mark the beginning of the New Year. However, it’s not just a holiday symbol. Over the years of its existence, the Spasskaya Tower has had many roles, including a mini-fortress, holy gates and even a prison.

READ MORE:    6 facts about Spasskaya - the Kremlin's main tower 

Next to another tower, the Nikolskaya Tower (and right across from Saint Basil’s Cathedral), stands an imposing dark-red building that looks as ancient as the Kremlin itself. However, its look is deceiving: in reality, this building appeared here only at the end of the 19th century and was designed in the neo-Russian style not to look out of place. Right now, this building is occupied by the State Historical Museum and we know at least    5 reasons to visit it .

Finally, on the fourth side of the Red Square, which makes it a simple quadrilateral, the GUM ( Glavny Universalny Magazin; ‘ Main Universal Store’) is located – the flagship department store of Russia with its luxurious boutiques, souvenir stores and, of course, a very rich history.

READ MORE:    Mysteries of GUM: Stalin’s tears, secret Chanel suits and Gagarin’s pass

When did the Red Square appear?

The square has existed from at least 1434 (historians are still debating if it was “created” or appeared naturally, since it became a market and the place for meetings). Before, there was a large field in its place right next to the Moscow fortress (which later would be named the Moscow Kremlin).

"The Red Square during Ivan the Terrible's reign" by Appolinary Vasnetsov.

As the fortress and the city grew, a settlement formed next to the fortress walls. And it needed a market. What happened next? Find out in the article   How did the Red Square appear in Moscow .

Why is it called ‘Red’?

The most obvious option would be to suppose that it’s called ‘red’, because it’s located next to the red walls of the Moscow Kremlin. But, this is incorrect (and the Kremlin was not always red). And even the theory that it’s “red” ( krasnaya in Russian) from the word ‘beautiful’ (in old Russian, krasnaya also meant beautiful) is incorrect.

Here’s the real reason it was called ‘red’: the red color was traditionally the color of authority and the staircase leading to the Palace of Facets – the main reception and banquet hall of the Moscow tsars - was painted red. The tsar himself walked out to a red porch during important events. That’s why the square where this porch led was called ‘Red’.

FIND OUT   who lives in the Kremlin in our modern day .

Who is buried on the Red Square?

If you heard that right in the heart of Moscow, right on the Red Square, there’s a cemetery, it’s not too far from the truth. From 1920 to 1985, important Communist figures, famous revolutionaries and just generally significant people for the Soviet Union were buried there. Among them - Joseph Stalin, Marshal of the Red Army    Georgy Zhukov , writer    Maxim Gorky , astronaut    Yuri Gagarin and the father of Soviet astronautics,    Sergei Korolev . Mass graves with the remains of soldiers who died for the Revolution are also located there.

Overall, about 200 people are buried next to the Kremlin wall from the side of the square, with Western politicians also among them.

READ MORE:    Who are the foreigners buried with honors on Moscow’s Red Square?  

Did the Red Square always look like this?

Of course not. The place where history was made over many centuries couldn’t stay the same. In the 19th century, it was still transport-accessible and even had a tram line run through it! The Red Square had its most major reconstruction under Stalin in the 1930s, during the reconstruction of Moscow. Many photos of    how the Red Square looked in different years have survived.

But, it’s even more amazing how it could have looked if some Soviet plans had been put in action! How’s the idea of demolishing everything in an area of about 500,000 square meters (an area larger than the Vatican) to build a giant necropolis instead of everything we have now? Thankfully, someone also thought it wasn’t the best idea.

READ MORE:  Unbelievable Soviet-era plans to rebuild the Red Square (PHOTOS)  

What happened on the red square.

Since the Middle Ages, this place has been the focal point of cultural and political life, as well as most unsightly events. Under Tsar Aleksey Mikhaylovich, the Red Square was the place for “family courts” (if someone violated the law, they were first reasoned with within their family circle; if that didn’t work - they were then brought to the square, where the same was done in front of all people).

In 1917, the Red Square hosted mass church services before sending troops to World War I.

Under the Bolsheviks, the place became the main arena for political meetings. From a wooden tribune, Vladimir Lenin would address crowds. In 1945, the first Victory Parade was held on the Red Square, when the Nazi flags were thrown onto the ground. The funeral procession of Stalin (that caused the    death of dozens of Soviet people ) also happened here, when the body of the leader was put in the Mausoleum next to Lenin.

In late Soviet and Russian Federation years, the Red Square continued to be an arena for loud statements, although it became harder to do so. We highlight the    crazy events that happened at this place (from performances with nailing one’s genitals to the paving stones to the landing of a German plane).

Today, book festivals, fairs, the annual May 9th Victory Parade and concerts are held here; in winter, this place turns into a Christmas fairy tale: a skating rink is set up and everything sparkles with Christmas lights. It’s from the Red Square where you can turn onto Nikolskaya street - one of the most decorated and brightly lit pedestrian streets of Moscow.

READ MORE:  5 most popular pedestrian streets in Moscow (PHOTOS)

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Boiler Room in Moscow

British musical project Boiler Room starts in Russia. The team is known for organization of DJ sets and live performances of electronic musicians in secret places, simultaneously translating them online.

Boiler Room project started in London. Its name comes from the place where the first party took place: the boiler room in Dalston area. Now the project has grown to eight cities, and Moscow, respectively, will be the ninth.

First Moscow event by the Boiler Room project will be held on Thursday, July 17. On this day, British electronics musicians Lone, techno duo from Detroit Octave One, as well as Russian musicians Mujuice, Pixelord and OL will play. The venue is still a secret. According to the organizers, guests will know the address on the day before the party. There is a limited registration to the event on Boiler Room Facebook page.

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