The British Museum Friends
Encyclopedia
The British Museum Friends (BMF) is a registered charitable organisation in the UK
with close links to the British Museum
, and was set up in 1968. It provides funding in the form of grants to the British Museum in order to support the educational objectives of the Museum including to allow the Museum to acquire new items and collections, and assists with financing research programmes, conservation, and new technologies throughout the Museum.
, the Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant
, the Burney Relief
, a Mycenaean terracotta group of three dancers in a ring, the gold mancus of Coenwulf, the Ringlemere Cup
, the Vale of York Hoard and two very rare gold coins of the Roman Emperor
Carausius
found in the North Midlands in 2007.
Other acquisitions funded in whole or in part by the Friends during 2008-9 include the Chettle Park Hoard and twelve Greek
papyri
from Roman Egypt from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
with close links to the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, and was set up in 1968. It provides funding in the form of grants to the British Museum in order to support the educational objectives of the Museum including to allow the Museum to acquire new items and collections, and assists with financing research programmes, conservation, and new technologies throughout the Museum.
Acquisitions
Acquisitions supported by the BMF include the Nimrud Ivories, the Warren CupWarren Cup
The Warren Cup is an ancient Roman silver drinking cup decorated in relief with two images of homosexual acts. The cup is named after its first modern owner, the collector and writer Edward Perry Warren, and was acquired by the British Museum in 1999...
, the Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant
Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant
The Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant is a medieval astrolabe believed to date from 1388, and which was found in an archeological dig at the House of Agnes in Canterbury, Kent, England in 2005....
, the Burney Relief
Burney Relief
The Burney Relief is a Mesopotamian terracotta plaque in high relief of the Isin-Larsa- or Old-Babylonian period, depicting a winged, nude, goddess-like figure with bird's talons, flanked by owls, and perched upon supine lions. The relief is displayed in the British Museum in London, which has...
, a Mycenaean terracotta group of three dancers in a ring, the gold mancus of Coenwulf, the Ringlemere Cup
Ringlemere Cup
The Ringlemere Gold Cup is a Bronze Age vessel found in the Ringlemere barrow near Sandwich in the English county of Kent in 2001 by metal detectorist Cliff Bradshaw. Although badly crushed by recent plough damage it can be seen to have been 14 cm high with corrugated sides...
, the Vale of York Hoard and two very rare gold coins of the Roman Emperor
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
Carausius
Carausius
Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Valerius Carausius was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapian from Belgic Gaul, who usurped power in 286, declaring himself emperor in Britain and northern Gaul. He did this only 13 years after the Gallic Empire of the Batavian...
found in the North Midlands in 2007.
Other acquisitions funded in whole or in part by the Friends during 2008-9 include the Chettle Park Hoard and twelve Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
papyri
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
from Roman Egypt from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri
Oxyrhynchus Papyri
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a very numerous group of manuscripts discovered by archaeologists including Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt . The manuscripts date from the 1st to the 6th century AD. They include thousands of Greek and...
.
American Friends of the British Museum
The American Friends of the British Museum (AFBM) was set up in 1989 as a not-for-profit organization whose principal purpose is raising awareness and financial support for the British Museum. Since its founding, American Friends of the British Museum has contributed over $30 million to support a variety of projects at the British Museum, including:- The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court
- Special exhibitions
- Scholarly symposia
- Acquisitions
- Staff positions in the curatorial and education departments.