British Museum

Exclusive: international museum attendance figures back to pre-pandemic levels

In 2023, many of the world’s major museums equaled—or surpassed—their 2019 attendance figures. However, some UK institutions are still lagging behind, finds The Art Newspaper’s annual survey

Remembering Jacob Rothschild, banker, collector, philanthropist, and a towering figure in the British art world

A scion of the famous banking dynasty, he led the National Gallery, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Waddesdon Manor

British Museum suffering from leaking roofs as wait for huge redevelopment project goes on

Emergency repairs are being made to several galleries, just over a year after Assyrian reliefs were threatened by serious condensation

British Museum accused of silencing critics after being targeted on social media to return Easter Island statues

The museum switched off comments on one of its Instagram posts after it was flooded with calls for the restitution of the moai objects

Investigation by Portuguese newspaper reveals grappling between politicians and museums over future of Kwer’ata Re’esu

Disagreement centred over whether the painting, looted in 1868 and later sold to a private collector in Portugal, should be bought by the government and returned to Ethopia

British Museum interim director backs Parthenon Marbles loan plan with Greece

Mark Jones also says BP deal is the ‘right one’ and announces recovered items show

British Museum and V&A to lend looted gold objects to Ghana

The 32 items held in the collections of the two UK museums were taken during wars in the 19th century

Striking gold: 2022 was a record year for treasure and antiquities finds, with more than 50,000 items reported

From gold coins to ivory carvings, many pieces were found by amateur metal detectorists, according to latest report by British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme

Who wants to be the next British Museum director? Post advertised with a salary of £216,000

Successful candidate will have their work cut out for them to restore the institution's reputation after last year's theft scandal

Exhibitionsanalysis

Only connect: far-reaching show in Mumbai embodies culture, aesthetics, religion and politics

'Ancient Sculptures', put together by the British Museum, the Getty, Berlin State Museums and Mumbai’s CSMVS, is rated "one of most important ever in an Indian museum"

How the Townley collection became the British Museum’s ‘forgotten’ marbles

Many of the British Museum thefts of engraved gems and glass pieces, revealed last August, were likely from Charles Townley’s collection

The Parthenon Marbles and the myth of the slippery slope

There are some very spurious arguments coming from those resisting the return of the marbles to Greece

Alexander Herman

Revealed: How British Museum trustees wrestled with ethical and security implications of £50m BP deal

Minutes from trustee meetings dating back to spring of 2023 chronicle the internal agonising before the energy giant’s sponsorship was ultimately accepted

British Museum's long-awaited masterplan includes record £50m BP deal

The controversial ten-year agreement with the oil and gas company will contribute towards the institution's ambitious refurbishment plans

The Year in Review 2023: the biggest stories and the best shows

From the British Museum thefts to the consequences in art and heritage of the Israel-Hamas war

Hosted by Ben Luke. With guest speakers Louisa Buck and Benjamin Sutton. Produced by David Clack, Julia Michalska and Alexander Morrison
Sponsored byChristie's

Review into British Museum thefts calls for fundamental reforms

The Independent Collection Security Review urges the museum to take urgent action, including fully recording the collection and tough management changes

Diaryblog

British Museum ends the year as the butt of the joke

The annual Christmas cracker joke competition by the British TV channel Gold took a swipe at the theft scandal that rocked the institution

Museums and heritage in 2023: War, theft and quakes

From the theft of artefacts at the British Museum to a hammer attack on Velázquez’s “The Rokeby Venus”

The long and curious journey of the British Museum's Asante Ewer

The museum is investigating how the English-made jug turned up in West Africa before being seized during the 19th-century Anglo-Ashanti wars

British Museum's ancient Greek Meidias vase will be loaned to Athens—leaving London for the first time in 250 years

The decision comes after the chairman of the UK institution reiterated his desire to reach an agreement with Greece over the Parthenon Marbles

Technologyfeature

Can digital technologies help to resolve debates on restitution?

Many believe new applications—from AI and NFTs to 3D scanning—are game changing in returning objects to source communities. Lawyers say they can make the process harder

British Museum chairman George Osborne tells guests he is eager to reach Parthenon Marbles deal

His speech was delivered at the annual dinner, held provocatively in the gallery where the ancient sculptures are housed

Unravelling the Kwer’ata Re’esu mystery: experts say the painter could be Iberian, Flemish—or German

The painting had been looted at the battle of Maqdala in 1868, but is now in the possession of a Portuguese collector

Book Clubfeature

Paper, politics and poetry: why artists’ books from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia deserve a closer look

British Museum show and book by Venetia Porter tap into rich seam of works by non-Western artists

British Museum releases further details of independent review into thefts

The review team will now liaise with the police for the criminal investigation

British Museum to digitise collection as one million objects are found to be undocumented

George Osborne, the chairman of the trustees, says the thefts began over two decades ago

Diaryblog

Lipstick and lashes at the Louvre

Lancôme drew inspiration from celebrated works such as the Venus de Milo and the Sleeping Hermaphrodite

After-shock: why the Parthenon Marbles negotiations must continue

Discussions about the return of the ancient Greek artefacts have likely slipped down the British Museum's list of priorities. Here, Alexander Herman, the author of a just-published book on the subject, tells us why the museum can ill afford to neglect the matter for long