Built in the middle of the last century, it is situated in Bloomsbury, a district in central London. It is an immense, light-grey building, like a Greek temple.

For a long time it was a great library, one of the largest in the world, with something like 5 or 6 million books. By law a copy of every book, pamphlet, periodical, including maps and music published in Britain, are to be kept at the British Museum.