British Museum Director resigns after antiques discovered stolen from storeroom

The director of the British Museum in London, Hartwig Fischer resigned from his publish after admitting to failing in his investigation into the theft of things from the museum’s assortment, Aljazeera reported on Saturday.

The museum was alerted greater than two years in the past to the potential theft or disappearance of helpful artefacts when an artwork historian grew to become suspicious about objects on the market on-line.

The publication reported that the museum, one among London’s hottest vacationer points of interest, knowledgeable final week {that a} member of workers had been dismissed after objects together with gold jewelry and gems relationship from the fifteenth century BC to the nineteenth century AD, had been discovered stolen from a storeroom.

The German artwork historian and the museum Director, who led the museum since 2016, stated that there might have been a greater response to the warnings that an worker might have been stealing objects and the failings “must ultimately” relaxation with him.

 “It is evident that the British Museum did not respond as comprehensively as it should have,” he stated in a press release.

“The responsibility for that failure must ultimately rest with the director.”

Aljazeera reported that the police had interviewed however not charged an unnamed man within the case.

The British Museum initially stated within the assertion that Fischer would step down “with immediate effect”, however later eliminated these phrases and stated he would resign as soon as an interim chief had been discovered.

Fischer stated that he withdrew remarks made concerning the artwork vendor who first alerted the museum’s authorities to the stolen objects. He claimed earlier this week that Ittai Gradel, an antiquities vendor, withheld details about the size of the stolen objects when he contacted the museum.

Fischer expressed “sincere regret” over the “misjudged” feedback.

The museum has additionally attracted controversy as a result of it has resisted calls from communities all over the world to return objects of historic significance that have been acquired or stolen through the period of the British Empire and Britain’s colonial rule.

The most notorious of those disputes embody marble carvings from the Parthenon in Greece and the Benin bronzes from West Africa.

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