British Museum Plans $1.3 Billion Overhaul to Digitize 8 Million Items After Recent Theft Scandal

The British Museum will be ushering in a new era after appointing a new director. This time, he's planning a massive transformation following a controversial theft scandal made by their former curator.

As reported by Design Times last month, the British Museum lost over 2,000 artifacts after an employee was found to have been stealing and selling them for personal gains, and in return, breaking the UK Preservation Law of keeping artifacts safe.

The museum's newly appointed director, Nicholas Cullinan, is promising clear actions to return the British Museum's glory and reputation. The former director of London's National Portrait Gallery started working in June and has been cooperating with authorities regarding the theft controversy.

British Museum's New Transformation Plans

ART News shared that Cullinan's plan will include a $1.3 billion budget that will focus on digitizing artworks or artifacts and renovating the British Museum's 3,500 rooms.

As for the theft controversies, Cullinan was still in in NPG at the time and had overseen another renovation project worth $55 million. The British Museum's former director, Hartwig Fischer, did their best to cooperate. This includes implementing an independent security review after over 2,000 items, such as ancient glass, jewelry, gems and more, were stolen.

Under Fischer's management, they sued their former curator Peter Higgs and was removed from his job immediately, although he denied the theft accusations.

For Cullinan, that case is now closed and his new management will be learning from the controversy and implementing a just solution "The decision to digitize the whole collection, all eight million items, is obviously a big part of that."