Session guide

The British Museum shares its rich and diverse collection of more than 8 million objects with audiences around the globe through its extensive programme of touring exhibitions.

The growth of our national and international loans programme and touring exhibitions is one the biggest changes in the British Museum in the last ten years. The Museum lends thousands of objects each year, contributing to hundreds of different exhibitions and displays at venues in the UK and around the world.

Between 2018 and 2019, more than 10.5 million people had the chance to see objects from our collection outside of London – a number split across 2,800 objects loaned to 147 venues. 

International loans allow us to work with colleagues and institutions overseas and have helped us to build new relationships and to strengthen existing ones with museums in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.