LONDON
\nThe director of the British Museum said on Friday he would step down after admitting to failings in its investigation into the theft of items from its collection.
\nHartwig Fischer, a German art historian who had led the museum since 2016, said there could have been a better response to warnings that an employee may have been stealing items and the failings \u201cmust ultimately\u201d rest with him.
\n\u201cIt is evident that the British Museum did not respond as comprehensively as it should have,\u201d he said in a statement.
\nThe museum, one of London\u2019s most popular tourist attractions, said last week a member of staff had been dismissed after items including gold jewellery and gems dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD, had been found stolen from a storeroom.
\nPolice said on Thursday they had interviewed but not charged an unnamed man over the stolen artefacts.
\nThe British Museum initially said in the statement that Fischer would step down \u201cwith immediate effect\u201d, but later removed those words and said he would resign once an interim leader had been found.
\nFischer said that he withdrew remarks made about the art dealer who first alerted museum bosses to the stolen items. He expressed \u201csincere regret\u201d over the \u201cmisjudged\u201d comments.
\nEarlier this week, Fischer said Ittai Gradel, an antiquities dealer, withheld information about the scale of the stolen items when he contacted the museum.
\nThe museum\u2019s board of trustees, chaired by former British finance minister George Osborne, accepted Fischer\u2019s resignation.
\n\u201cWe are going to fix what has gone wrong,\u201d Osborne said. \u201cThe museum has a mission that lasts across generations. We will learn, restore confidence and deserve to be admired once again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON The director of the British Museum said on Friday he would step down after admitting to failings in its investigation into the theft of items from its collection. Hartwig Fischer, a German art historian who had led the museum since 2016, said there could have been a better response to warnings that an employee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-351952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n