Not lost its charm

The British Museum is like Venice, if less watery. It suffers from its success, especially in holiday periods. Big attractions such as the Rosetta Stone (St Mark’s Square) or the Egyptian mummies (the Rialto bridge) are jammed with tourists who can hardly see the sights for the crowd. Just off the beaten track are tranquil spots with clocks and watches, prints and drawings (a deserted scuola or an overgrown cortile). Now the glorious living museum in Bloomsbury, forever peopled by scholars and sightseers, is developing a sort of app that will ping on visitors’ mobiles with a suggestion that if they like the Eagle-beaver totem pole, they might also like the Yaxchilán lintel in Gallery 27. We connoisseurs of quiet corners will still not be trampled by gum-chewing hordes, but keen tourists will enjoy some unexpected rewards.