The British Museum is extending its sponsorship agreement with British energy company BP. Revenue of £50 million (€58 million) over the next decade will fuel the renewal of the iconic site and ensure collections are preserved for generations to come, the London museum said today.
Environmentalists criticized the deal for violating the museum's own climate commitments. In the first stage of a “master plan”, a new archaeological research center is scheduled to open in June 2024.
Various objects such as rare Peruvian textiles and ancient fingerprints on 5,000-year-old horn tips are to be kept there.
2,000 items stolen or damaged
The museum recently made headlines because about 2,000 items — mostly uncatalogued gems and jewelry from the collections of ancient Greece and Rome — were stolen or damaged.
Just 351 items have been returned so far, a recent audit found. The director of the German museum Hartwig Fischer resigned over the scandal.