According to the British Museum's latest review released this week, 2,000 unexhibited items from the museum are missing, stolen or damaged, and some parts of the collection are even sold as scrap. Although the person in charge of the museum "resigned" because of this, it was difficult to calm the anger of the public.
According to the British Museum, the stolen collection was mainly "unregistered" gems and jewellery in Greek and Roman galleries. Of the 1,500 missing or stolen items, only 351 have been returned to the museum to date. In addition to the stolen items, about 140 items were scratched by tools, and about 350 pieces of the collection, such as the gold seat of the gemstone, were removed. In a statement, the museum said most of the parts removed from the 350 items were likely to be unrecoverable because they "probably have been sold for scrap."
The investigation proceeded slowly, and the person in charge resigned
On August 25 this year, Fischer, then director of the British Museum, announced his resignation, taking responsibility for the museum's previous failure to adequately investigate the loss of its collections. According to British media reports on the 14th, Williams, deputy director of the British Museum, will also resign.
A recent independent review found that the museum was suspected of theft in 2021, but the investigation at the time erroneously concluded that it was "unfounded". And so far, the British police investigation has also been slow.
Many countries are once again urging the British Museum to return the artefacts
After the theft of cultural relics from the British Museum was exposed, Greece, Nigeria, Egypt and many other countries once again urged them to return the looted cultural relics.
Greek Minister of Culture and Sports Lena Menzoni said that Greece has been demanding that the British Museum return the Parthenon stone sculptures, and the safety problems exposed by the loss of cultural relics from the British Museum have made Greece's demands even stronger.
Zahid Hawass, a prominent Egyptian archaeologist and former minister of antiquities, believes that the theft of the British Museum's collection is a "global catastrophe" and a "serious crime" against the World Heritage Site, and that the British Museum should also include Egyptian antiquities, including the Rosetta Stone.
Netizen: The British Museum is a "thief shouting to catch a thief"
In this regard, some netizens criticized, "Obviously, everything in the museum is stolen, what else is being investigated?" Some netizens sarcastically said, "Didn't the museum steal these cultural relics first?", and some netizens said, "From a legal point of view, if a person holds something that originally belonged to someone else, it is theft and infringement." The British Museum would have done it like theft. ”
(Yangcheng Evening News, Yangcheng Pai Comprehensive CCTV News Client)
Edit: Cold
Source: Yangcheng Evening News • Yangcheng faction