The variety of artefacts which have disappeared from the British Museum is estimated at 2,000, chairman of trustees George Osborne mentioned on Saturday, admitting the gathering didn’t have an entire catalogue.
The UK’s former chancellor described the lacking items as “small gadgets of jewelry, gems, bits of gold that weren’t on public show”.
He instructed BBC radio it was nonetheless not clear precisely what number of gadgets had gone astray.
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“I will provide you with an estimate of round 2,000. However I’ve to say that’s a really provisional determine,” Osborne mentioned.
“We’ve got began to recuperate a number of the stolen gadgets, which is a silver lining to a darkish cloud.”
‘Lacking, stolen or broken’
Museum director Hartwig Fischer resigned on Friday, admitting the establishment didn’t act “because it ought to have” on warnings that gadgets had gone lacking.
The central London museum mentioned final week it had dismissed a employees member and alerted the police after artefacts have been discovered to be “lacking, stolen or broken”.
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One of many British capital’s largest vacationer attracts, the museum is finest recognized for housing collections that embody the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon Marbles.
Osborne attributed administration’s failure to behave on warnings to “groupthink” that “simply couldn’t imagine that an insider was stealing issues, couldn’t imagine that one of many members of employees have been doing this”.
“We imagine we’ve been the sufferer of thefts over a protracted time period and, frankly, extra may have been accomplished to stop them,” he mentioned, including that safety on the museum had been tightened.
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British Museum to cooperate with police
The antiquarian group was cooperating with the museum to assist return a number of the lacking items, he mentioned.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed on Thursday {that a} man had been interviewed in reference to alleged thefts.
The drive mentioned no arrests had been made and it will proceed to work “carefully” with the British Museum as inquiries proceed.
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Fischer, a German artwork historian, mentioned he would step down with quick impact due to lapses in procedures that allowed the gadgets to be taken.
“It’s evident that the British Museum didn’t reply as comprehensively because it ought to have in response to the warnings in 2021, and to the issue that has now absolutely emerged,” he mentioned.
© Agence France-Presse
