Hartwig Fischer Said His Museum Needs People Back Like Oxygen

Hartwig Fischer urged People To Visit His museum.

London’s cultural attractions need visitors “like oxygen”, the boss of the British Museum said today. Hartwig Fischer called for visitors to support the capital’s museums and galleries as the city comes out of lockdown, while the institution he has run since 2016 prepares to reopen its doors on Thursday.

He said visitors will experience the museum in “a way they haven’t before” when it opens for the first time in 163 days after the longest peacetime closure in its 261-year history. The director said he believed the public had “missed” cultural spaces during lockdown and now realised how important they were to modern life.

He said he was “very encouraged” by the Government’s £1.57 billion arts bailout fund, announced last month, but admitted his museum faced “difficult times”. Because of social distancing, it will be limited to 2,200 visitors a day at first — way below the 18,000 it usually attracts during summer months, leaving a huge financial deficit.

Mr Fischer told the Standard: “People are like oxygen to the British Museum. We can’t wait to have people back breathing life in to the space. The whole point of a museum is to share our collections with people. We need people back, we need their input. People will be able to see the museum in a way they haven’t seen it before. The collections, they will feel different — limited numbers will change the perception.”

Speaking about the importance of museums, art galleries and cultural spaces post-pandemic, Mr Fischer added: “Our closure will show people how important museums are as public spaces — spaces of learning, of debate, of coming together. People have missed that and understand the importance of these institutions. And I am very encouraged to see our Government agrees with its rescue package.”

He urged Londoners to show their support for the museum sector by paying a visit if they were able to.

“Obviously with museums that rely on a commercial business model, now is a difficult time. We are under pressure. That’s why we need Londoners and others to come and support us.”

As well as limiting numbers, social distancing measures will include booking a time slot online, a new route around the attraction and sanitisation stations.

A majority of the ground-floor galleries will be open from Thursday, showcasing more than 9,000 objects including the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures, Hoa Hakananai’a, the Assyrian reliefs, the Benin bronzes, the Aztec double-headed serpent, the Akan Drum and the Discobolus. Grayson Perry’s work The Tomb Of The Unknown Craftsman will be displayed in the museum for the first time in almost a decade.

The Turner Prize-winning artist originally created the piece for his British Museum exhibition of the same name in 2011. The postponed spring exhibitions Tantra: enlightenment to revolution and the Citi exhibition Arctic: culture and climate will open on September 24 and October 22 respectively.

The museum will open 10am–3pm on August 27 and 28, moving to 10am–5pm from Saturday, August 29