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08/04/2015
Director Of British Museum To Step Down
British Museum Director Neil MacGregor has announced he is to step down at the end of December 2015.
Mr MacGregor said: "It's a very difficult thing to leave the British Museum. Working with this collection and above all with the colleagues here has been the greatest privilege of my professional life. But I've decided that now is the time to retire from full-time employment and the end of this year seems a good time to go. The new building has been completed, so we at last have proper exhibition space, new conservation and scientific facilities, and first class accommodation for our growing research activities. We have built strong partnerships with fellow museums across the UK, and are rapidly expanding our programme of loans and training around the world."
The Museum is now ready to embark on a new phase - deploying the collection to present different histories of the world. It is an exhilarating prospect, and it will start with the new Islamic Galleries and with plans for the future of the Old Reading Room.
Mr MacGregor added: "Although I shall no longer be working full-time I shall be involved in a number of projects.
"I shall be working with the BBC and the BM on a new Radio 4 series on Faith and Society.
"I shall be chairing an Advisory Board to make recommendations to the German Minister of Culture, Monika Grütters, on how the Humboldt- Forum, drawing on the outstanding resources of the Berlin collections, can become a place where different narratives of world cultures can be explored and debated."
(CD/MH)
Mr MacGregor said: "It's a very difficult thing to leave the British Museum. Working with this collection and above all with the colleagues here has been the greatest privilege of my professional life. But I've decided that now is the time to retire from full-time employment and the end of this year seems a good time to go. The new building has been completed, so we at last have proper exhibition space, new conservation and scientific facilities, and first class accommodation for our growing research activities. We have built strong partnerships with fellow museums across the UK, and are rapidly expanding our programme of loans and training around the world."
The Museum is now ready to embark on a new phase - deploying the collection to present different histories of the world. It is an exhilarating prospect, and it will start with the new Islamic Galleries and with plans for the future of the Old Reading Room.
Mr MacGregor added: "Although I shall no longer be working full-time I shall be involved in a number of projects.
"I shall be working with the BBC and the BM on a new Radio 4 series on Faith and Society.
"I shall be chairing an Advisory Board to make recommendations to the German Minister of Culture, Monika Grütters, on how the Humboldt- Forum, drawing on the outstanding resources of the Berlin collections, can become a place where different narratives of world cultures can be explored and debated."
(CD/MH)
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