The British Museum library and the British Museum were opened to the public in 1759. The present building housing them was completed in 1852. But in 1997, the library, known as the British Library, moved to new premises nearby, taking with it 12 million printed books and tens of thousands of manuscripts and seals.

The focal point of the now vacated courtyard, called the Great Court, was the domed Reading Room. Since its inception in 1857, this Reading Room has been a haven for researchers from across the world. Mohandas Gandhi, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx are just some of the well-known people who have worked in the quiet privacy of this prestigious library.