The British Museum 指名するs Nicholas Cullinan its new director as it tries to get over a rocky patch
LONDON (AP) - The British Museum on Thursday 任命するd 国家の Portrait Gallery 長，指導者 Nicholas Cullinan as its new director, as the 265-year-old 会・原則 grapples with the 明らかな 窃盗 of hundreds of artifacts and growing international scrutiny of its collection.
Previous director Hartwig Fischer 辞職するd in August after the museum 公表する／暴露するd that more than 1,800 items were 行方不明の in an 明らかな 事例／患者 of insider 窃盗. Many of the items had been 申し込む／申し出d for sale online.
示す Jones, former 長，率いる of the Victoria and Albert Museum, has served as 暫定的な director since then. Cullinan will 取って代わる him in the summer.
Cullinan has been director of the 国家の Portrait Gallery since 2015, 監督するing a major refurbishment of the building beside London´s Trafalgar Square. He has 以前 worked at Tate Modern in London and the 主要都市の Museum of Art in New York.
His 任命 was 認可するd by the British Museum´s trustees and 総理大臣 Rishi Sunak.
Cullinan said it was an 栄誉（を受ける） to become director of "one of the greatest museums in the world."
FILE - 訪問者s walk outside the British Museum in Bloomsbury, London, Friday, June 26, 2015. The British Museum is 告訴するing a former curator 申し立てられた／疑わしい to have stolen almost 2,000 artifacts from its collections and 申し込む／申し出d them for sale online. Peter Higgs was 解雇する／砲火／射撃d in July 2023 after more than 1,800 items were discovered to be 行方不明の. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland, とじ込み／提出する)
He said he looked 今後 to 主要な the 会・原則 through "the most 重要な 変形s, both architectural and 知識人, happening in any museum globally, to continue making the British Museum the most engaged and collaborative it can be."
The museum 解雇する／砲火／射撃d a 長年の curator, Paul Higgs, over the 行方不明の items, and is 告訴するing him at the High 法廷，裁判所. Lawye rs for the museum say Higgs "乱用d his position of 信用" to steal 古代の gems, gold 宝石類 and other pieces from storerooms over the course of a １０年間.
Higgs, who worked in the museum´s Greece and Rome department for more than two １０年間s, 否定するs the 主張s and ーするつもりであるs to 論争 the museum´s 合法的な （人命などを）奪う，主張する.
Police are also 調査／捜査するing, but no one has been 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d.
The 18th-century museum in central London´s Bloomsbury 地区 is one of Britain´s biggest tourist attractions, visited by 6 million people a year. They come to see a collection that 範囲s from Egyptian mummies and 古代の Greek statues to Viking hoards, scrolls 耐えるing 12th-century Chinese poetry and masks created by the Indigenous peoples of Canada.
The museum 直面するs growing 圧力 over items taken from other countries during the period of the British Empire -- 特に the Parthenon Marbles, 2,500-year-old sculptures that were taken from Athens in the 早期に 19th century by British 外交官 Lord Elgin.
Greece has （選挙などの）運動をするd for １０年間s for the marbles to be returned. The British Museum is banned by 法律 from giving the sculptures 支援する to Greece, but its leaders have held 会談 with Greek 公式の／役人s about a 妥協, such as a long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 貸付金.
Those 成果／努力s 苦しむd a 後退 in November, when a 外交の spat 爆発するd over the marbles, and 総理大臣 Sunak 突然の 取り消すd a planned 会合 with his Greek 相当するもの, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
British Museum Chairman George Osborne said that with Cullinan´s 任命, the 会・原則 was entering "a new 一時期／支部 in the long story of the British Museum with 信用／信任, and 支援する on the 前線 foot."
