British Museum’s famous Reading Room is reopening for tours

Sitting in the centre of the British Museum is a huge Round Reading Room with a famously massive dome, and although long closed to the public, it will soon be open for guided tours.

The museum ran some guided tours last year as a tester to see if it could work, as the room is now used for archive research, so walking in occasionally disturbs researchers.

Evidently, the test tours worked, as tours of the Reading Room will resume later this month and will be a regular event.

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 later put a temporary floor in to use the space for exhibitions in 2007, but that stopped in 2013, and the doors have generally been closed since then.

The new regular 20 minute tours will start on Tuesday 23rd July and then repeat every Tuesday at 11am and 12pm from then on.

Each tour has a capacity of 20 people and places will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis – so my tip would be to book a free ticket to the museum for 10am and then that gives you the chance to get first dibs at the 11am tickets, and an hour (or two) to wander around the museum.

Note that photography is not permitted in the Reading Room. These tours are subject to cancellation. If you are unsure, please ask at the Information Desk in the Great Court.