British Museum could return 'greatest objects' to countries of origin

British Museum could return ‘greatest objects’ but warns ‘dismantling it must not become the careless act of a single generation’

• Museum chairman said institution is embarking on a regeneration ‘masterplan’
• George Osborne said the aim is to be the ‘global museum of common humanity’ 
• But the former chancellor warned against dismantling the work of ‘generations’
• He said collections wouldn’t be broken up but hinted at more loans of artefacts 

George Osborne (pictured at the trustees dinner) has cautioned against carelessly dismantling the work of ‘generations’

The chairman of the British Museum has opened the door to some of its greatest artefacts being returned to their countries of origin but has cautioned against carelessly dismantling the work of ‘generations’.

Speaking to the annual trustees’ dinner, George Osborne said the institution was embarking on a ‘masterplan’ to regenerate the museum, with the aim of becoming ‘the global museum of common humanity’.

But the former chancellor warned that dismantling the British Museum ‘must not become the careless act of a single generation’, the Times has reported.

He said: ‘When people say that the very fact that it would be impossible to assemble this collection today makes us illegitimate, we respond: “No, it is the very thing that makes us invaluable”.’

Mr Osborne, who was appointed chairman of the British Museum in June last year, insisted that collections would not be permanently broken up.

But he said the museum would change the way it engaged with ‘the communities of the world, whose treasures we hold in trust for all humankind’, hinting at an increasing number of loans of artefacts back to their countries of origin.

Museums have come under increasing pressure in recent years to acknowledge the reality of how they came to be in possession of valuable objects from around the world. 

In August, seven stolen artefacts – including a ceremonial Indo-Persian tulwar, a type of sword, which is believed to date back to the 14th century and three carved stone pillar fragments from a 10th century temple in Kanpur – were returned to India from Glasgow in the first repatriation to the country from a UK museum.

And last month, academics signed a petition calling for the British Museum’s Rosetta Stone to be returned to Egypt after more than 200 years in the UK.

Mr Osborne hinted that some of the British Museum’s greatest objects could be seen again in the communities they originally came from, saying: ‘My message is: if you’re ready to find the common ground, then so are we.’

He also announced that the trustees had agreed to a ‘complete reimagining of the museum’ which could cost as much as £1billion and will include the introduction of a new energy system to make it a ‘net zero carbon museum’.

‘We will present this extraordinary collection in galleries and buildings which are fit for modern purpose,’ Mr Osborne said. 

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