The Reading Room at the heart of the British Museum’s Great Court was hailed as one of Britain’s most majestic sights following its completion in 1857.

Now the institution is considering reinventing the majestic dome, with its famous benches extended outward like spokes in a wheel, as a space to display some of the most important artefacts marking civilisation’s development.

The Museum is considering new uses for the Reading Room, which opened to the public in 2000 after its restoration, including a permanent exhibition space which might showcase a “brief history of the world”, through a limited number of important pieces held in the Museum collection.