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£100m plan for bigger British Museum
Emily Parsons, Evening Standard5 Jul 2007
The British Museum has revealed plans to build a massive £100 million centre to house blockbuster exhibitions.
The proposals come after lack of space forced the museum to turn down a unique chance to show off the largest collection of Tutankhamun treasures ever seen in the West.
Instead the exhibition will take place at the O2, formerly the Millennium Dome, in November.
The last time the Tutankhamun exhibition came to the UK was in 1972, and organisers are predicting it will be the most popular show in British history.
The museum aims to ensure it does not miss out in future and is drawing up plans for an enormous exhibition centre at the back of the building.
Another reason for the proposals was the success of the museum's exhibition last year of Michelangelo drawings.
It drew more than 160,000 visitors, making it one of the museum's most popular shows. The museum stayed open until midnight every Saturday, but director Neil MacGregor claimed it could have sold three times as many tickets if it had more capacity.
Despite the popularity of both the Michelangelo show and its Persia exhibit earlier in the year, some visitors complained the space was cramped and inadequate.
Lord Rogers, who designed the Lloyd's building and the Pompidou Centre in Paris, has been commissioned to take charge of the project. The new centre, already estimated to cost £100million to build, could provide up to 1,000 square feet of space and will be situated in Montague Place.
The proposals also include plans for a "world conservation centre" where history enthusiasts will be able to see conservators at work on exhibits.
Discussions are already under way with Camden Council regarding planning permission, and the museum hopes its new building could be open by 2011.
Reader views (3)
In the programme yesterday "The Museum" it was said that the British Museum has many more items in its archives than it has room to display. Why not donate them to other museums in the provinces or sell them to museums abroad so more people can have the benefit of seeing them in other places? I had read previously that other art galleries such as the National Gallery and Tate also have large numbers of paintings in the storerooms which they do not have room to display. Why don't they sell or donate them to other galleries in the provinces or abroad again so more people can actually see them and raise revenue for the museums as well? Many people donated paintings etc in lieu of death duties which is why these galleries and museums have so many items. Also why not create more research projects and work placements for students and postgraduates to carry out the necessary research on those items?
- Susan Mary Robertson, London U.K., 13/07/2007 12:22
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The British Museum's temporary exhibition space is far too small. They have to cram items so close together that a visitor looking at one exhibit obscures another person looking at a separate exhibit. The labels are often so low I have to stoop and strain to read them and end up leaving with an achey neck.
But good luck to them, as long as it does not harm cash flow, and please, let them build something attractive in stone or brick with detail not a horrible glass and steel banality!
- Stephen, London, 10/07/2007 10:31
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I certainly went to the Michaelangelo Drawings exhibition, the '72 Tutankhamun exhibition, the New World paintings by White and the persian Exhibition as well as many others throughout the years all at the British Museum. I look forward to the Xian Warriors, even though I've been to Xian myself already. I do not find the space they use for exhibitions there inadequite - far from it. But I do find the very low lighting and the labels placed at shin level in small type most annoying. I often find that the most interesting things are let down by dim lighting and labeling. If we get a bigger space, could they please use it for large clear, close up pictures of the exhibits that need and tantalise us for longer and further perusal? I'm thinking of some of the drawings by Michaelangelo and for that matter Durer, of the wonderful world map that was right side up and upside down in the New World exhibit and many other objects that raise real questions in the viewer. Often these are the ones where there is not a postcard or a reproduction - nothing short of an expensive catalogue! That would be a real reason for a huge expansion and a real joy!
- Carlyle Braden, Croydon, UK, 06/07/2007 23:15
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