The art historian Hartwig Fischer (Hamburg, 1962), director of the British Museum, one of the most important museum institutions in the world, has submitted his resignation due to the inadequate handling of the theft of numerous semi-precious gems, jewels and pieces of crystal from the museum's collection - between one and two thousand pieces valued in millions of pounds and dating from the 15th century BC. in the XIX – by an employee. A Dutch antiquities dealer, Ittai Gradel, who had acquired hundreds of museum objects online for ridiculous prices, alerted the institution two years ago to the theft taking place, and the museum's deputy director responded in a message that "there was no evidence of crime" and that "the collection was protected". Gradel had accused the institution of hiding the problem, says that he was treated as if he were "a village idiot" and had asked for the resignation of Fischer and Williams. For now, the first one has arrived.
Hartwig Fischer has finally announced that he is stepping down as director of the London-based institution with immediate effect after being at the helm since 2016 and having announced that he would be leaving next year. “Over the past few days I have been reviewing in detail the events surrounding the British Museum thefts and the investigation into them. It is clear that the museum has not responded as comprehensively as it should have done in response to the warnings of 2021, and now the problem has fully emerged", admitted the historian of Germanic art.
And he pointed out that "responsibility for this failure in the last term must correspond to the director of the institution". “I was also wrong about the statements I made earlier this week about Dr. Gradel. I want to express that I am sorry and I want to withdraw the statements”. He then hit back and asserted that "the individual who reported the problem did so on a limited number of parts" and that they had reason to believe that "he had many more parts in his possession than he said and it is frustrating that don't reveal it to us, because it would have helped us in our investigations".
Then, in 2021, they found no irregularities in some pieces, most of which, small, were not exposed and were in a warehouse mainly for academic and research uses. However, in 2022 they embarked on a full audit that revealed a serious problem that has resulted in the disciplinary process and the dismissal of an employee who will face legal charges. In addition, exceptional emergency measures have been taken to ensure the safety of pieces that Gradel would have started buying as early as 2014 – before Fischer's arrival – on the eBay platform, with Roman objects valued at an amount of between £25,000 and £50,000 offered for just 40.
After the controversy of these days, the German director has offered his resignation to the president of the trustees and will leave, he says, as soon as an interim leadership is appointed who will be in charge of the London center until a new management is elected.
In addition, Hartwig Fischer has recognized that the situation of the British Museum is "of the greatest seriousness, I think we will pass the moment and emerge stronger, but, sadly, I think that today my presence is a distraction". For now, the timing is particularly tough because those claiming the Parthenon marbles in the British Museum feel they have even more reason to demand their return to Greece: the great London museum is not safe.
