The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court covers the courtyard of the British Museum in London. Foster and Partners carried out the late-1990s redevelopment after the British Library left the courtyard in 1997. The original 1970s design was by Colin St John Wilson. Queen Elizabeth II opened it in 2000. The article names no style or client.
The courtyard measures 6,700 square meters, 92 by 73 meters, under a tessellated glass roof of steel and glass engineered by Buro Happold and built by Waagner-Biro. Stone cladding is partly Portland stone, with some from France, which caused controversy.
It surrounds the original circular Reading Room. It has shops, a cafe, a restaurant and the Clore Education Centre, and Nelson Mandela spoke at the BP Lecture Theatre inauguration.
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