LONDON.- The British Museum is preparing early for its 250th anniversary celebrations next year with a three-day conference on the Enlightenment in the UK. The period, in the 18th century, is noted for a giving way in European thought of the traditional, religious view of the world before the new forces of science and reason. At the event, entitled Enlightening the British, academics from all over the world will explore the intellectual and political climate in which the museum was founded. The museum plans to publish some of the academic papers read at the conference ahead of the anniversary celebrations in June 2003. Central to the museum's plans for next year are the restoration of the historic King's Library and the opening of the new Wellcome Trust gallery. The library will be the setting for a permanent exhibition on discovery and learning in the Enlightenment, while the gallery will showcase items from a variety of cultures associated with ideas of luck and health. As well as addressing wider 18th-century preoccupations, the conference will trace the progress and development of the British Museum itself. Around 100 objects from the museum's collections will be brought together in the Great Court gallery.