British Museum set to welcome back visitors on August 27

The British Museum is set to reopen its doors to visitors on August 27.

The London venue will have been shut for 163 days by the time it welcomes back visitors, which is the longest peacetime closure in its 261-year history.

Visits to the museum will need to be pre-booked and a one-way route will be installed around some of its galleries.

Galleries featuring objects from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Assyria, Africa, Mexico and North America will reopen before more displays go on show later in September.

Postponed exhibitions Tantra: Enlightenment To Revolution and Arctic: Culture And Climate will reopen later in the autumn.

Artist Grayson Perry’s Tomb Of The Unknown Craftsman will also be shown in the museum nine years after it was featured in an exhibition of the same name at the museum.

Hartwig Fischer, director of the British Museum, said: “I am delighted to announce that the British Museum will reopen its doors in time for the summer Bank Holiday weekend.

“Visitors are our lifeblood, and we have missed them greatly.

“It will be wonderful to welcome them back and I do hope that local, London-wide and UK audiences take this opportunity to discover, or re-discover, the museum, exploring some of the most popular galleries in what will be a much quieter environment.

“And we are looking forward to welcoming back our international visitors as well in due course.”

Tickets will be available to book from August 12.

Museums and galleries have been able to reopen since July 4, however a number of venues did not immediately do so.

The Natural History Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum and and Tate galleries in Liverpool, London and St Ives are among those to have now reopened.

The Science Museum is set to welcome back visitors on August 19.