LONDON (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- After being closed for 163 days by the coronavirus pandemic, the British Museum on Thursday became the last of Europe抯 major museums to welcome back visitors.
As at other institutions these days, there were hand sanitizer stations and one-way routes, a limited number of visitors, and many masks. But the museum has made some more permanent changes, too.
Hartwig Fischer, the museum抯 director, said in an interview that the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May, and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests around the world, had 揳ltered the awareness of everybody. The events made him want to intensify the museum抯 work addressing its links with slavery and colonialism, he said.
The museum made two main changes for the reopening, Fischer said. The first was moving a bust of Hans Sloane a physician and collector of curiosities whose holdings formed the basis of the museum when it was founded in 1753 from a plinth in a prominent gallery to a display case. Now Sloane is no longer simply celebrated as a natural history collector but also labeled a 搒lave owner. The vitrine contains other objects related to Britain抯 involvement in the slave trade.
The second move was the creation of a guided route around the museum called 揅ollecting and Empire, with plaques that explain how certain items, like a bark shield from Australia, had made their way into the museum. (The plaques stress that most of the items were bought or donated to the museum, not stolen.)
揙ur task is to elucidate the history of this institution, and the history of every object in it, Fischer said about the alterations. 揙penness is really at the heart of this.
The changes he announced may seem small, but their announcement this week caused a stir in Britain.
The decision to move the bust, which Fischer first outlined in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, a conservative newspaper, angered some traditionalists. Save Our Statues, a campaign group, said on Twitter that it showed 搒uch disrespect & ingratitude to a man whose generosity has helped preserve so much world history for millions to enjoy. Other Twitter users pointed out that Sloane had not owned any slaves himself but that his wealth came from plantations owned by his wife.
Fischer said he does not use social media, adding that he was aware of the fuss and that he stood by the decision. People will always complain, he said: 揧ou just have to do the right thing.
This week it was mostly social conservatives who criticized the museum, but in June it was rebuked by social justice advocates when it issued a statement in support of Black Lives Matter demonstrations. In the statement, Fischer said the British Museum was 揳ligned with the spirit and soul of the movement. That idea was widely mocked online.
揇id our lives matter when your STOLE ALL OUR THINGS? Stephanie Yeboah, an author, wrote on Twitter. 揑f we matter that much to you, give it back.
The lack of diversity among the museum抯 senior curatorial staff also came into the spotlight in June, when a BBC interviewer asked Fischer how many of the museum抯 150 curators were Black. He said none were, adding that it was a 揵ig issue we need to address. (He was actually wrong, a spokeswoman for the museum said: The museum has one Black curator, an archaeologist.)
Fischer said the museum had been trying to address its links to colonialism and slavery since before he joined, in 2016, by researching the origins of items in the collection to work out how they had been acquired and involving communities associated with the artifacts in curatorial decisions. The new text that explains Hans Sloane抯 links with slavery had been 揷o-written with the Black British community, for example, he said.
揑t抯 not a beginning when it comes to facing our own history, Fischer said, adding, 揧ou抣l see much more of this in the future.
For years, the museum has faced calls to return key items from the collection to their countries of origin, including the Benin Bronzes, a dazzling collection of hundreds of artifacts taken by British forces in a brutal 1879 military raid. The treasures are now scattered in museums and private collections around the world. The British Museum has said it would loan some of the items to Nigeria when it builds a new museum to display them but has resisted calls to return them permanently.
When asked about looted items in the museum抯 collection, Fischer reacted strongly. 揟his collection is not based on looted objects, he said. 揟here抯 8 million objects in this collection, he added, most of them acquired by scientists and collectors with genuine passion and interest in world culture. 揑 think that抯 what抯 really at the heart of this institution, he said.
揟his is the most extraordinary place to learn about humankind and its history, he added. 揂nd it抯 also an extraordinary place to come in for conversation, debate and 搑espectful exchange, he said.
Debates in Britain around the legacies of colonialism and slavery have become increasingly shrill since a statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave trader, was torn down in June in Bristol, England, during a Black Lives Matter protest. This week, newspapers and social media have been consumed by a flap over the 1740 song 揜ule, Britannia! which is traditionally performed at the Last Night at the Proms, a concert wrapping up an annual festival of classical music, broadcast on the BBC. The patriotic song抯 chorus includes the line, 揃ritons never, never, never shall be slaves.
Boris Johnson, Britain抯 prime minister, dismissed calls for the song to be dropped from the event. 揑 think it抯 time we stopped our cringing embarrassment about our history, he told reporters Tuesday.
Some supporters of the British Museum say it can抰 win in this climate. 揟he British Museum is the kid at school that everybody抯 decided to mess with and bully, said Bonnie Greer, a Chicago-born playwright and journalist, in an email. Greer, who is African American, was the deputy chair of the museum抯 board for four years and hosted a series of talks there earlier this year about how cultural institutions can reckon with colonialism抯 legacy.
揟hey do a lot and should talk about it, she said. The fact the museum doesn抰 blow its own horn, she added, was likely 揳 British thing.
Ahdaf Soueif, an Egyptian novelist who resigned from the museum抯 board last year in protest over a range of issues, including its colonial legacy, said dethroning Sloane抯 bust and the new trail 搒eemed excellent.
揑 think it is starting to move, she said.
On Thursday at the museum, a dozen visitors said in interviews they had heard about the Sloane bust in the news media.
Kath Miller, 73, said it was good that the museum wasn抰 hiding his links with slavery. 揌e probably wasn抰 a nice person, she said, standing in front of the bust. 揌e doesn抰 look it.
Maria Morte, 50, said she had read about the bust in a newspaper. 揇oing this it抯 very with the times, isn抰 it? she said.
揑 think it抯 a good decision, she added. 揃efore it just said about his travels and how his great collection came about. But the legacy of slavery, you can抰 ignore."
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