The British Library - The British Library

What’s on

Face of Alexander the Great statue opened to reveal a pink elephant, a snake, a horse and a ship.

Alexander the Great: The Making of a Myth

Fri 21 Oct 2022 - Sun 19 Feb 2023

A football player and a woman reading a magazine

Chinese and British

Free

Fri 18 Nov 2022 - Sun 23 Apr 2023

Treasures of the British Library. Discover stories that shape the world.

Treasures of the British Library

Free

Web banner for Inspiring Entrepreneurs: She's in CTRL

Inspiring Entrepreneurs: She's In CTRL by Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE

Thu 9 Feb 2023

Photo of the audience at the Cultural Changemakers event

Inspiring Entrepreneurs: The Changing Face of Fashion

Wed 22 Feb 2023

Unbuilt Room

The Unbuilt Room: Alexander the Great

Wed 18 Jan 2023

Image of Alexander from Exhibition

Alexander the Great: The Making of an Exhibition – A Curator's View

Free

Tue 24 Jan 2023

Knights on horseback confronting three giant cyclopes holding clubs.

Monsters of Alexander the Great's Legends in World Cultures

Fri 27 Jan 2023

Mosaic of Alexander the Great

Alexander: Between Fantasy and History

Fri 27 Jan 2023

Painting of a figure floating in light

Alexander the Great: Between Dreams and Imagination

Thu 2 Feb 2023

Alexander the Great bust

The Further Queer Adventures of Alexander the Great: Boyfriend, Activist and Porn Star

Tue 7 Feb 2023

Schoolmaster with children.

The Free Italian School – A Lunchtime Lecture

Free

Wed 8 Feb 2023

composite of image and Paul Muldoon

Paul Muldoon: The Castle of Perseverance

Fri 10 Feb 2023

Leaves of Grass title page.

Fluid Crossings: A Transatlantic Celebration of Walt Whitman's Radical Cultural Legacy

Wed 15 Feb 2023

All events and exhibitions

News

Web maintenance at the British Library

Changes to our opening hours and delivery updates

Our St Pancras site will open slightly later on days affected by the planned transport strikes.

Speakers at a ceremony

Cooked with Love launch a delicious success

This week we celebrated the success of our child-friendly Leeds award-nominated Food…

Ancient mappe of Fairyland designed by Bernard Sleigh

Dates for your diary – our 2023 exhibitions

Fantasy literature, the legendary Malorie Blackman, the future of storytelling, and animals in art and science. 2023 is looking…

Blogs

Untold Lives blog from the British Library

Walker’s Manly Exercises

European blog from the British Library

The Photographic Collection of Indigenous Childhood

Asian and African blog at the British Library, collection item detail

A beloved in every port: Iskandar's encounters with women

Learn

Collage of photograph of Andrea Levy's parents and one of her manuscripts

‘How come England did not know me?’: Recording Andrea Levy for Authors’ Lives

More Learning resources

Discover

A Description of Three Hundred Animals [page: frontispiece and title page]

The Devonshire Manuscript

Explore this hand-written volume, known as the Devonshire Manuscript

Explore our Highlights

Get started

Get started at the British Library, photo of a Reading Room

Find out how to get a Reader Pass

Support us

Support the British Library

Help grow, protect and share our collection

Business support

Business support at the British Library

We can help you start, run and grow your business

Work with us

Students working in the Library

Current vacancies and other opportunities – and how to apply