LONDON: British Museum director Hartwig Fischer resigned on Friday, admitting the museum did not act “as it should have” on warnings that items had gone missing.

The museum in central London is best known for housing collections that include the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon Marbles.

It said last week it had dismissed a staff member and alerted the police after artefacts from its collection were found to be “missing, stolen or damaged”.

The items included gold jewellery and gems of semi-precious stones and glass dating from 15th century BC to the 19th century, it said in a statement.

London’s Met police said on Thursday a man had been interviewed by investigating officers, although no arrests had been made.

Fischer, a German art historian, said he would step down with immediate effect because of lapses in procedures that allowed the items to be taken.

“The responsibility for that failure must ultimately rest with the director,” he said. “It is evident that the British Museum did not respond as comprehensively as it should have in response to the warnings in 2021, and to the problem that has now fully emerged,” he added.

Emails leaked to the BBC claimed the museum was alerted by an antiquities dealer to items being sold on eBay in 2021 and ignored the report.

Most of the items affected were described by the museum as “small pieces kept in a storeroom belonging to one of the museum’s collections”.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2023