British Museum director Neil MacGregor announced today that he would step down in December from the position he has held since 2002.
He 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.”
MacGregor has overseen a rise in visitor numbers from 4.6 million in 2002-03 to 6.7 million in 2014-15, making the London museum the most visited attraction in the UK for eight years running and, according to the Art Newspaper, the second most visited museum in the world in 2014 after the Louvre. This is despite the museum’s grant-in-aid being cut by 30% over the past five years.
His BBC Radio 4 series, A History of the World in 100 Objects, telling the story of the museum’s collection, was downloaded over 40 million times.
He has presided over a number of acclaimed exhibitions, bringing China's terracotta army to the museum in 2007, exploring ancient Afghanistan in 2011, and life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum in 2013, as well as more risky exhibitions such as 2011’s Grayson Perry: Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, which saw the artist curate objects from the museum’s collection alongside his own works.
And MacGregor has created a role for the British Museum as an unofficial ambassador for the UK, touring the Cyrus Cylinder to Iran in 2010, loaning a selection of the Parthenon marbles to Russia last year, and working with the Iraqi government on a museum in Basra.
His championing of the British Museum as a “world museum” has seen its global reach increase, but at times has also led to controversy. The museum was an influential member of the National Museum Directors' Council (NMDC) in 2008 when the NMDC came out against a proposed change in the law to allow national museums to deaccession objects shown to have been looted during the second world war.
And the issue of ownership of the Parthenon marbles continues to dog the museum, which last month turned down a request by the Greek government to take part in Unesco-mediated talks.
After December MacGregor will chair an advisory board for Germany’s Humboldt-Forum, as well as working with the British Museum and the BBC on a new Radio 4 series on faith and society.
The museum has begun the recruitment process for a new director.
He 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.”
MacGregor has overseen a rise in visitor numbers from 4.6 million in 2002-03 to 6.7 million in 2014-15, making the London museum the most visited attraction in the UK for eight years running and, according to the Art Newspaper, the second most visited museum in the world in 2014 after the Louvre. This is despite the museum’s grant-in-aid being cut by 30% over the past five years.
His BBC Radio 4 series, A History of the World in 100 Objects, telling the story of the museum’s collection, was downloaded over 40 million times.
He has presided over a number of acclaimed exhibitions, bringing China's terracotta army to the museum in 2007, exploring ancient Afghanistan in 2011, and life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum in 2013, as well as more risky exhibitions such as 2011’s Grayson Perry: Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, which saw the artist curate objects from the museum’s collection alongside his own works.
And MacGregor has created a role for the British Museum as an unofficial ambassador for the UK, touring the Cyrus Cylinder to Iran in 2010, loaning a selection of the Parthenon marbles to Russia last year, and working with the Iraqi government on a museum in Basra.
His championing of the British Museum as a “world museum” has seen its global reach increase, but at times has also led to controversy. The museum was an influential member of the National Museum Directors' Council (NMDC) in 2008 when the NMDC came out against a proposed change in the law to allow national museums to deaccession objects shown to have been looted during the second world war.
And the issue of ownership of the Parthenon marbles continues to dog the museum, which last month turned down a request by the Greek government to take part in Unesco-mediated talks.
After December MacGregor will chair an advisory board for Germany’s Humboldt-Forum, as well as working with the British Museum and the BBC on a new Radio 4 series on faith and society.
The museum has begun the recruitment process for a new director.
