The German art historian who has led the world-famous British Museum since 2016 has stood down over a growing scandal over nearly 2,000 stolen artefacts, now belatedly discovered after an employee allegedly spent years removing them.
British Museum director Hartwig Fischer announced his resignation Friday after admitting he failed to investigate revelations into stolen artefacts sooner and even tried to place some blame for the taken items onto the whistleblower who revealed the thefts.
The resignation comes after the revelation that a thief had been taking objects from the British Museum for years and that between 1,500 and 2,000 artefacts are missing. The objects concerned were not on public display and were from the vast and not always perfectly catalogued archives. The thief is alleged to have used knowledge of this poorly managed system to take pieces that may not have been missed.
It is claimed some were sold, and some were even feared to have been melted down for the gold. A longstanding employee of the museum has been fired, who British newspapers identified as curator of Greek collections, Greek sculpture and the Hellenistic period Peter Higgs, who has worked at the museum for decades. Mr Higgs denies all wrongdoing.
A Times report claims items among those taken were silver necklaces, ancient coins, ceramic fragments, beads, and pendants, and in some cases, items were sold for just hundreds of pounds, when their true value was many times more. The scandal has been called one of the worst in the Museum’s history.
Accusations have grown that the British Museum and director Fischer were actually made aware of the alleged thefts years ago but failed to act. The information first came from Dr Ittai Gradel, a Danish art collector, who bought several items from a favourite eBay seller over the years. However, he eventually realised some of the things he had bought had previously appeared in British Museum catalogues.
In an earlier statement on the thefts, British Museum director Fischer appeared to lay some of the blame on the thefts on whistleblower Gradel, accusations for which he apologised on Friday.
Fischer wrote:
Over the last few days I have been reviewing in detail the events around the thefts from the British Museum and the investigation into them. It is evident that the British Museum did not respond as comprehensively as it should have in response to the warnings in 2021, and to the problem that has now fully emerged.
The responsibility for that failure must ultimately rest with the director. I also misjudged the remarks I made earlier this week about Dr Gradel. I wish to express my sincere regret and withdraw those remarks.
I have offered my resignation to the chairman of the trustees, and will step down as soon as the board have established an interim leadership arrangement. This will remain in place until a new director is chosen.
The situation facing the museum is of the utmost seriousness. I sincerely believe it will come through this moment and emerge stronger, but sadly I have come to the conclusion that my presence is proving a distraction.
That is the last thing I would want. Over the last seven years I have been privileged to work with some of the most talented and dedicated public servants. The British Museum is an amazing institution, and it has been the honour of my life to lead it.”