The British Museum in London revealed on Wednesday the “highly unusual” theft of pieces from its collection, including jewelery and semi-precious stones dating back to the 15th century BC, which led it to fire an employee and seize the police.
“The trustees of the British Museum were extremely concerned to learn earlier this year that items from the collection had been stolen,” George Osborne, chairman of the museum known for having the Stone of Rosette or Parthenon Marbles.
He assured that the priority was to “find the stolen parts” and that concrete measures had been taken: “We contacted the police, imposed emergency measures to reinforce security, set up an independent investigation in order to know what happened and learn from it, and we have used all the disciplinary powers we have in relation to the person we hold responsible. »
According to the museum, the majority of the objects that “have disappeared, been stolen or damaged”, are “small pieces” kept in the reserves, which have not been exposed to the public recently and serve “mainly for research purposes “. “This includes gold jewellery, semi-precious stones or glassware dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD”, it is specified.
Refund requests
“This is a very unusual incident,” museum director Hartwig Fischer said in the statement. “The museum apologizes for what happened, but we have put an end to it,” he said. He specified that experts outside the museum participated in the identification of missing or damaged pieces. “This will allow us to make every effort to find them,” he promised.
The museum said it has taken legal action against the fired employee. In addition to the independent investigation launched into the incident, the London Metropolitan Police Financial Crime Section has been taken up with the case. Founded in 1753, the British Museum is one of the most prestigious museums in the world and one of the most visited attractions in the United Kingdom. Its collections, with eight million pieces, include Egyptian mummies, African sculptures or pottery from the Roman Empire.