British Museum appoints new director after alleged thefts scandal
The British Museum has appointed the National Portrait Gallery head, Nicholas Cullinan, as its new director, after it emerged last year that hundreds of objects had been allegedly stolen from the museum’s collection.
He replaces the interim director, Sir Mark Jones, the former head of the Victoria and Albert Museum, who stood in for the former director Hartwig Fischer. Fischer resigned last year over the scandal.
Cullinan, whose appointment was approved by the board of trustees and Rishi Sunak, will take over the role from Jones in the summer.
Cullinan said: “One of the greatest museums in the world, it is an honour to become the next director of the British Museum.
“I look forward to joining its wonderful and dedicated staff and to work with its hugely impressive board in leading it into a new chapter.
“This will encompass the most significant transformations, both architectural and intellectual, happening in any museum globally, to continue making the British Museum the most engaged and collaborative it can be.”
Cullinan faces the fallout from a finding last year that 1,500 artefacts from the museum collection were “missing, stolen or damaged”, as well as a renovation.
He was appointed director of the National Portrait Gallery in April 2015 and oversaw the three-year refurbishment of the Trafalgar Square museum and its reopening.
Cullinan previously worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Tate Modern in London.
George Osborne, the chair of the British Museum, said the trustees chose Cullinan as he “brings proven leadership today and great potential for tomorrow”.
“I could not be more thrilled for Nick and more excited for us as we enter this new chapter in the long story of the British Museum with confidence, and back on the front foot.”