The British Museum in London's Bloomsbury neighborhood is one of the world's great repositories of human civilization, housing a permanent collection of approximately eight million works spanning all of recorded history. Established in 1753, it holds the distinction of being the world's first public national museum. Visitors encounter an extraordinary breadth of antiquities, from the Rosetta Stone to a classical bust of Alexander the Great, to the Egyptian collection that drew Gates here in the first place. That collection includes a large granite sarcophagus originally inscribed for Nectanebo II, the last native-born pharaoh of ancient Egypt, which was brought to London after the British took Egypt from Napoleon in 1801. In Season 13 of Expedition Unknown, Gates received an after-hours private tour to examine this sarcophagus alongside historian Andrew Chugg, who believes it may have once held the body of Alexander the Great — a claim Gates found both thrilling and in need of serious scrutiny.
Nectanebo II reigns as the last native-born pharaoh of Egypt; the granite sarcophagus is prepared for his burial but never used
The British Museum is established in London — the world's first public national museum
Following the British taking Egypt from Napoleon, the Nectanebo II sarcophagus is brought to London and eventually enters the museum's Egyptian collection
Gates films an after-hours investigation of the sarcophagus with historian Andrew Chugg for Expedition Unknown S13E02, "Alexander's Lost Tomb"
Historian and author Andrew Chugg, who has written extensively on the search for Alexander the Great's tomb, is the central expert voice in Gates' British Museum visit. Chugg's theory holds that the empty Nectanebo II sarcophagus — already in Alexandria when Alexander died in 323 BC — was repurposed as a temporary or permanent resting place for the conqueror. As Chugg tells Gates on camera, "all the evidence points that way," though he is careful to frame it as probability rather than proof, and Gates is equally careful not to treat it as settled history.
Mainstream Egyptology and classical scholarship hold that Alexander was indeed buried in Alexandria, likely with considerable ceremony, but the precise location of his tomb has never been confirmed by modern archaeology. The city of Alexandria has been continuously inhabited and substantially rebuilt over millennia, making excavation extraordinarily difficult. The Nectanebo II sarcophagus is a genuine artifact in the British Museum's Egyptian collection — its hieroglyphs are well documented and translated — but whether it was ever associated with Alexander remains a hypothesis rather than an established fact.
The sarcophagus itself has an unambiguous early history: it was prepared for Nectanebo II, the pharaoh driven out of Egypt by the Persian invasion, who fled without using his own burial equipment. That it was sitting empty in Alexandria when Alexander arrived is not disputed. What is debated is whether Alexander's successors, the Ptolemies, chose to place his body within it — a leap that requires connecting suggestive circumstantial evidence into a coherent chain of custody across more than two thousand years.
Gates' episode does not claim to solve the mystery. Instead it uses the British Museum visit to lay out the hypothesis, let Chugg make his case, and then follow the evidence trail to other sites — including Alexandria and Venice — to see whether the theory holds up under scrutiny. The episode is an honest representation of where the scholarship stands: genuinely intriguing, genuinely unresolved.
The British Museum was established in 1753, making it the world's first public national museum.
Its permanent collection numbers approximately eight million works, spanning all of recorded human history.
In 2025, the museum recorded over 6.4 million visitors, making it the second most visited attraction in the United Kingdom.
The Rosetta Stone — on display here and noted by Gates during his visit — was the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, inscribed in three languages: Egyptian hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek.
The British Museum is generally open to the public free of charge, with suggested donations welcome; check the museum's official website for current opening hours and any ticketed exhibition requirements. The Nectanebo II sarcophagus is on display in the Egyptian collection, and the Rosetta Stone — also mentioned in Gates' visit — is among the museum's most popular objects. Bloomsbury is easily accessible by London Underground.
London, United Kingdom — the museum is located centrally in the Bloomsbury district, roughly 1.5 miles from the City of London.
The museum is open year-round, but weekday mornings tend to be less crowded than weekends and school holidays. Spring and autumn offer mild weather for the surrounding Bloomsbury neighborhood.
Alexandria
Alexandria is the city where Alexander the Great was buried and where the Nectanebo II sarcophagus was discovered — it is the central focus of the same S13E02 investigation that brought Gates to the British Museum.
Cloister of St. Apollonia, Venice
The Cloister of St. Apollonia in Venice is another site Gates visited during the Alexander's Lost Tomb investigation, connected to Chugg's theory about a stone block that may fit the Nectanebo II sarcophagus.
Church of San Nicolò al Lido, Venice
The Church of San Nicolò al Lido in Venice is linked to the same Expedition Unknown episode, as Gates traced possible connections between Venetian relics and Alexander's burial history.
Historical data sourced from Wikipedia