London’s British Museum has celebrated the 250th anniversary – on 7 June – of the act establishing its creation receiving the royal assent in 1753.

The museum opened to the public in 1759 – the first national, public museum in the world – with its display of over 70,000 objects from the collection of Sir Hans Sloane available to "all studious and curious people, regardless of rank or status."

Sir Hans bequeathed his collection to the nation in his will and it was originally housed in Montague House in the city’s Bloomsbury district.

In the mid-nineteenth century the collection moved to its current home, a large neo-classical structure erected on the site of Montague House. In 1880 the natural history exhibits were moved to a site in South Kensington and that collection was opened to the public in 1881.

The British Museum – whose exhibits include such well known items as the wax death mask of Oliver Cromwell, the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles – welcomed nearly 5 million visitors in 2002.

In April this year, the museum was in the news as being the co-ordinator of a scheme to give assistance to Iraqi museums, which suffered widespread damage and looting during the war.

The anniversary is being commemorated by the commission of a special medal – by sculptor and Royal Academician, John Maine – and a number of special events.

These include the Museum of the Mind: Art and Memory in World Cultures – where key objects from the museum’s collection are used to illustrate the subject of memory across cultures and time – and London 1753, a display of over 300 items employed to give visitors an impression of the city in the year of the founding of the museum. Both of these are now open.

Medicine Man: The Forgotten Museum of Henry Wellcome will open on 26 June, being an insight into the "culture of medicine", followed by Treasure: Finding Our Past on 21 November, an exhibition of British archaeology, and Enlightenment : Discovering the world in the 18th Century, also opening in November.

Enlightenment will be housed in the newly restored King’s Library, built in the 1820’s and a Grade 1 listed interior, and will form the centrepiece of the 250th celebrations.

Admission to the museum and all of the events mentioned is free. Details: www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk