The British Museum, built by Sir Robert Smirke between 1823 and 1852, originally contained a landscaped central courtyard. In 1857, the architect’s brother Sydney Smirke inserted a domed structure in this space to house the reading room of the British Museum Library, and in the course of time, the courtyard became cluttered with other buildings used for storage purposes. Ultimately, the public no longer had access to this central open space. With the relocation of the library (now called the British Library) to new quarters in St Pancras in 1998, it was possible to open up the courtyard to visitors again.