The British Museum announced today, Saturday, that about two thousand pieces of art had been stolen, but some of them were recovered, according to what the head of this ancient cultural institution announced, the day after the resignation of the museum director.
Hartwig Fisher, who has held his position since 2016, resigned from the management of the British Museum, yesterday, Friday, after he was subjected to strong pressure since the announcement, on August 16, of the loss of a series of pieces from the museum’s collections, some of which date back to the fifteenth century BC.
In response to a question by the BBC, today, Saturday, the head of the museum, former Conservative minister George Osborne, indicated that he did not know exactly how many pieces were missing, but he explained, “My estimates speak of about two thousand pieces.”
“We are starting to find the stolen items, which is a bright side of a dark cloud,” the minister added.
The stolen works are small, undisplayed pieces kept in the storerooms of a museum that has never made a complete inventory of its collections acquired over the centuries.
Osborne stressed that the museum “should accelerate the process already underway to create a complete inventory” of the museum’s pieces.
The announcement of the thefts was a great embarrassment to the institution and “damaged the reputation of the British Museum,” Osborne said.
Founded in 1753, the British Museum includes in its collections consisting of eight million pieces the famous “Rosetta” stone, which made it possible to decipher the hieroglyphic language, and is considered one of the most attractive points for visitors in the United Kingdom.
The Foundation had indicated, in mid-August, that it had dismissed an employee on the background of this case, while the London police said that it had interrogated a man, without mentioning his name, but had not initiated any prosecution in this field.
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2023-08-26 17:02:24