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George Osborne, chair of the British Museum, has promised to speed up the compilation of a record of all the objects in the institution’s collection as the crisis over thefts of treasures escalates.
Osborne admitted on Saturday that as many as 2,000 items had been stolen or gone missing and that the museum failed to act on warnings in 2021 that items were turning up for sale online.
The former chancellor said some in the British Museum may have believed at the time that it was inconceivable that a colleague was stealing items, but added: “I don’t believe there was a cover-up.”
Osborne confirmed that the British Museum did not have a complete register of all the items in its collection, and promised to speed up that process.
“Someone with knowledge of what’s not registered has a big advantage in removing some of those items,” he told the BBC’s Today programme. A member of staff has been fired over the incident.
Hartwig Fischer, director of the British Museum, quit on Friday over his response to the thefts, admitting the institution faced a situation “of the utmost seriousness”.
Osborne, who said the museum had been the victim of theft over a period of time, also confirmed that deputy director Jonathan Williams had stepped back from his duties while an independent inquiry was conducted.
Fischer, director since 2016, said the British Museum “did not respond as comprehensively as it should have” after the warnings that objects had been stolen.
The affair has developed into a full-blown crisis for the British Museum, leaving it open to claims that it is not a reliable custodian of treasures brought to London from other countries.
The museum has confirmed that among the stolen items were “small pieces” including “gold jewellery and gems of semi-precious stones and glass dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD”.
Fischer had been strongly criticised for his handling of warnings by antiquities dealer and scholar Ittai Gradel in 2021 that objects had been stolen from the museum and were being sold online.
Earlier this week Fischer issued a statement claiming Gradel had withheld information in 2021 and that he had only notified the British Museum about concerns over “a small number of items”.
Gradel replied that the claim was “an outright lie”, adding: “I was entirely at their disposal for any further information or assistance they would require. They never contacted me.”
On Friday Fischer issued a full apology. “I misjudged remarks I made earlier this week about Dr Gradel,” he said. “I wish to express my sincere regret and withdraw those remarks.”
The row comes at a sensitive time for Osborne, who is trying to arrange a deal with Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis over the future arrangements for the Parthenon Sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles.
Under Osborne’s plan, sections of the sculptures — which are in the British Museum — would be loaned to Athens for a period of perhaps 10 years, with Greek treasures coming to London as “collateral” and forming the basis for temporary exhibitions.
Despina Koutsoumba, head of the Association of Greek Archaeologists, claimed this week that the row over the thefts underlined the need for the restitution of artefacts to their country of origin.
“We want to tell the British Museum that they cannot anymore say that Greek cultural heritage is more protected in the British Museum,” she told the BBC.
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