ABSTRACT

During the years either side of 1800 the British Museum had made an unprecedented series of acquisitions from those who had taken the opportunities the period offered to make major collections of Greek and Roman antiquities. But there was no adequate space in which to display those collections, and so it was clear that an extension was needed. Accordingly, a new gallery was built, projecting from the north-west comer of the old Montague House, which was in a restrained Palladian mode, and would blend in with Montague House. The work began in 1804 and the gallery was opened in 1810.