Hartwig Fischer, a German art historian and director of the British Museum, has stepped down following alleged thefts of artefacts worth millions of pounds from the London institution.
Stressing his presence was “proving a distraction”, Fischer said the museum evidently “did not respond as comprehensively as it should have” in response to “warnings in 2021”.
It was later announced Jonathan Williams, the institution’s deputy director, would “voluntarily step back from his normal duties.”
That will be the case until an independent investigation into the alleged thefts of artefacts has concluded, the museum said.
A senior curator was earlier sacked after almost 2,000 valuable items were believed to have been stolen. Dr Ittai Gradel had concerns and had tried to warn the institution about them.
Stressing it has been a difficult period, the Roman antiquities expert said Fischer had “done the right thing … and he deserves credit for that at least.”
In his resignation statement, the museum director said he had “misjudged” some remarks he made about Gradel, expressing his sincere regret and wish to withdraw the comments.
The antiquities expert said he had considered seeking legal advice but said Fischer has now “apologised to me and I accept that.”
Highlighting their resolve “to fix what has gone wrong”, George Osborne, who chairs the museum’s trustees, said “no one has ever doubted Hartwig’s … dedication to his job.”
For K-pop fans, the Christmas season this year has become even more magical as several of their preferred stars reveal…
After Suzy Bae's nomination as Celine's worldwide ambassador, the venerable French luxury fashion company has taken another bold step choosing…
Thousands of users of the well-known social network Reddit were left without access after a major outage of the website.…
Anne Hathaway is slated to play the much expected film version of Colleen Hoover's best-selling book Verity in front of…
Gucci is ready to change its presentation approach for 2025 in a radical action aimed to revolutionize the fashion industry.…
As world investors wait for significant changes that might solve long-standing problems of governance and responsibility in South Korea's companies,…
This website uses cookies.
Read More