found on eBay<\/a>, sold for much less than their worth.<\/p>\nThe First Recovery and Changes in Leadership<\/h2>\n
After this discovery, the museum recovered around 350 items by February<\/b>.<\/p>\n
The investigation pointed to Peter Higgs, a senior curator of Mediterranean cultures<\/b>, as the main suspect.<\/p>\n
Higgs had allegedly been stealing items for over 30 years <\/b>and selling them online. This scandal led to immediate and significant leadership changes.<\/p>\n
Hartwig Fischer, the then British Museum director, resigned, and deputy director Jonathan Williams also left after an independent review.<\/p>\n
Recent Success in Recovering More Items<\/h2>\n
Recently, the British Museum found 268 more artifacts, <\/b>bringing the total number of recovered items to 626<\/b>.<\/p>\n
These objects were found through careful detective work and help from supporters across Europe and North America.<\/p>\n
The museum is still looking for about 100 other missing items<\/b>, showing its strong commitment to retrieving all of its lost pieces.<\/p>\nPublic Appeal and Ongoing Search<\/h2>\n
George Osborne, the chairman of the museum trustees, expressed his surprise at the progress made.<\/p>\n
He praised the museum\u2019s team’s hard work and the public’s support<\/b>, making it clear that the search is not over.<\/p>\n
Osborne asked anyone with information to come forward, highlighting the importance of community help in finding the remaining missing items.<\/p>\n
Improving Museum Security and Future Plans<\/h2>\n
After the scandal, an independent review made 36 suggestions for improving the museum\u2019s security, governance, and record-keeping<\/b>.<\/p>\n
The museum has promised to document its entire collection within five years, which will cost $12.1 million<\/b>.<\/p>\n
This is important to prevent future thefts and ensure all artifacts are well-protected and recorded.<\/p>\n
Renewed Calls to Return Culturally Significant Items<\/h2>\n
The scandal has also restarted discussions about returning items like the Benin Bronzes and the Parthenon Marbles<\/b> to their original countries.<\/p>\n
Notably, officials from Nigeria and Greece have renewed their requests <\/b>for the repatriation of these culturally significant artifacts.<\/p>\n
The British Museum\u2019s new focus on being open and accountable might influence these talks, possibly leading to significant changes in how historical artifacts are handled worldwide.<\/p>\n
Pursuit for the Remaining Missing Artifacts<\/h2>\n
While finding 268 more artifacts is a big success, the British Museum\u2019s work is not finished.<\/p>\n
The museum still needs to recover the remaining missing items<\/b> and implement robust measures to prevent future thefts.<\/p>\n
With support from the community, careful investigation, and thorough security improvements, the British Museum aims to restore its reputation and keep its valuable collection safe for future generations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10026,"featured_media":172323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[410],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-and-culture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172321"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10026"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}