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Galleries The Museum is arranged into four main galleries – the Moving Toys Gallery, the Creativity Gallery, the Childhood Galleries and the Front Room Gallery. Download a map of the Museum (773KB .pdf) Moving Toys Gallery The Museum's Moving Toys Gallery is divided into four sections – Pushes and Pulls, Springs and Cogs, Circuits and Motors and Look See. Find out more Creativity Gallery The Museum's Creativity Gallery is divided into four sections – Imagine, Be Inspired, Explore and Make it Happen. Find out more Childhood Galleries The Childhood Galleries are arranged into the following themes: Babies, Home, What We Wear, Who Will I Be? Find out more Front Room Gallery The Front Room showcases the Museum's community projects, which involve established and emerging artists working with community groups. Find out more

Aztecs (Mexica) During the twelfth century AD the Mexica were a small and obscure tribe searching for a new homeland. Eventually they settled in the Valley of Mexico and founded their capital, Tenochtitlan, in 1345. At the beginning of the sixteenth century it was one of the largest cities in the world. Warfare was extremely important for the Mexica people and led them to conquer most of modern-day central and southern Mexico. Stone sculpture in the British Museum collection reflects the Mexica's complex religious beliefs and the large pantheon of gods they worshipped. Craftsmen also worked in gold, turquoise mosaic and feathers. Hernán Cortés and his small Spanish army arrived in 1519 and overthrew the Mexica ruler Moctezuma Xocoyotzin with relative ease. *The people and culture we know as 'Aztec' referred to themselves as the Mexica (pronounced 'Mé-shee-ka'). Image caption: Mosaic mask of Quetzalcoatl Mexica/Mixtec, 15th-16th century AD.

Visit us Entry is free (There is a charge for some temporary exhibitions) Opening times Last Friday of the month open until 22.30 for Lates, excluding December. The Museum is open every day, including Sundays and bank holidays, but closed 24-26 December. The Museum's step-free entrance is on Exhibition Road. Keep up to date at NHM_Visiting on Twitter Visiting our Museum at Tring? For your security, most areas of the Museum are protected by CCTV. On entry to the Museum your bags and other personal items will be inspected. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. What's on From the latest gallery highlights, daily activities and films to special exhibitions and events, find out what’s on for visitors. Getting here There are many ways to reach us. Temporary exhibitions Explore nature, science, conservation and artistic interpretation in our temporary exhibitions. Booking Find out about booking information for our events and exhibitions. Galleries Floor Plans Parents' survival guide Bringing the kids? Access guide

the National Gallery Welcome to the British Museum Ancient Egypt Towards the end of the fourth millennium BC several independent city-states were unified to form a single state, marking the beginning of over 3,000 years of pharaonic civilisation in the Nile Valley. Fertile earth left behind after the yearly Nile flood provided the basis for Egypt’s agricultural prosperity, a key factor in the longevity of the civilisation. Impressive monuments were erected in the name of kings, from monumental temples for the gods to the pyramids marking the burials of rulers. The British Museum collection includes statuary and decorated architecture from throughout pharaonic history, often inscribed with hieroglyphs. Texts preserved on papyrus help reveal the complex administration of the country, but also include magical, medical and mathematical works and poetry. At certain periods, Egypt’s empire extended over neighbouring areas, from Upper Nubia to the Euphrates river.

Winter Wonderland 2011 - Official Website Two hoards and one unknown Viking ruler Ian Richardson, Portable Antiquities and Treasure, British Museum The saying goes that one waits an eternity for a London bus to arrive, only for two to eventually show up at the same time. Dot Boughton, Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) for Lancashire and Cumbria, is probably beginning to feel that the same rule applies to Viking silver hoards. But no sooner had the coroner concluded his inquest into the Barrow case than Dot was on the phone to our office again with news of an even larger hoard. A piece of jewellery from the Silverdale Viking hoard When the finder’s photographs were sent through to us, we knew this new hoard from Silverdale in Lancashire, was going to be one of the major enterprises of the year for us and our colleagues. After a furious few months spent weighing, analyzing, cataloguing and photographing the finds, the report for the coroner was ready. Among the many stand-out objects is a coin type none of us had seen before. The Silverdale Hoard Like this: Like Loading...

British Museum shop online Polynesia The islands of the eastern Pacific are known as Polynesia, from the Greek for ‘many islands’. They lie across a vast stretch of ocean from Hawaii in the north, to New Zealand in the south and Easter Island in the east. The western Polynesian islands of Fiji and Tonga were settled approximately 3,000 years ago, whilst New Zealand was settled as recently as AD1200. In the past, Polynesians were skilled navigators and canoe builders, creating double-hulled vessels capable of travelling great distances. Today, Polynesian culture continues to develop and change, partly in response to colonialism. The Polynesian collections at the Museum date back to the earliest contact with European explorers and missionaries.

Painting of the Month He’s England’s patron saint, but little can be said with any certainty about Saint George. According to legend, Saint George was a Roman soldier who refused to recant his Christian faith, and who was subjected to brutal torture and death by the Emperor Diocletian. He was martyred in Nicomedia (in modern Turkey) and buried in Lydda (in modern Israel). Uccello depicts the scene for which Saint George is most associated - his battle with the dragon - a legend that became popular in the 13th century when recounted by Jacobus de Voragine. The legend tells of a town in Lydda, terrorised by a fearsome dragon living in a nearby lake. One day, the lot fell upon the king’s daughter. Uccello has chosen to show both the moment that George defeats the dragon (more accurately, a wyvern), and the moment when the dragon is subdued by the princess’s girdle. George is depicted in somewhat anachronistic armour for 1470, and the princess is very fashionably dressed.