Queen Elizabeth II Great Court - Sculptures

Sculptures

Upon the Great Court's opening to the public in 2000, twelve sculptures from the British Museum's collection were installed on the main floor of the concourse:

• A stela of the Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II (9th century BC)
• A marble lion from Knidos, Asia Minor (3rd century BC)
• Two heads of Pharaoh Amenhotep III (circa 1400 BC)
• Two obelisks of the Egyptian King Nectanebo II (circa 350 BC)
• Hoa Hakananai'a, a statue from Easter Island (Date unknown, but between 1200 and 1800 AD), later moved to Room 24
• A Roman equestrian statue (2nd century AD)
• An Irish memorial slab carved in Ogham script (5th century AD)
• An Anglo-Saxon cross shaft (late 8th/early 9th century AD)
• A pair of Chinese guardian figures (17th century AD)

There were initial plans for a new, thirteenth sculpture to be commissioned from Anish Kapoor, but these were scrapped.

• East Portico of Sir Robert Smirke's building; Roman equestrian statue visible in the foreground

• Hoa Hakananai'a

• Great Court seen from the second floor of the southern wing.