Do Museums Have Repairs After Hours

The British Museum is to reopen its Greek galleries to the public on 13 December subsequently a total twelvemonth of closure due to the pandemic and problems linked to crumbling infrastructure. The shoddy state of the galleries, which business firm the historic marble sculptures removed from the Parthenon, has fuelled Greek demands for their restitution.

In compliance with the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland lockdown, the museum shut on 16 December 2020 and reopened on 17 May, but the Greek galleries remained closed to permit for delayed routine surveillance work. And so, after heavy rain in July, a roof leak in gallery 17—which contains the Nereid monument—forced the museum to keep all its Greek galleries closed pending roof repairs because of social distancing rules and the introduction of a new, 1-way visitor road through the museum. For example, Gallery 17 is the simply access indicate to the Parthenon sculptures in gallery 18.

The poor condition of the Greek rooms and neighbouring Assyrian galleries has been noted many times. In 2018, Greek television circulate images of h2o dripping into the Parthenon Marbles gallery, with the Greek civilisation government minister, Lina Mendoni, responding that it "reinforces Greece'due south rightful demand for the sculptures' permanent render to Athens". The leak was caused by a xl-year-old drinking glass ceiling pane cracking, a museum spokesperson says. "Such cracks are due to general wear and tear, which is expected over time in an erstwhile and historic building. This was addressed in 2018 and the glass was replaced with new fixings." None of the sculptures were damaged, the museum says.

In 2018, a 40-yr-one-time glass ceiling pane cracked in gallery xviii, habitation to the Parthenon Marbles The Fine art Newspaper

A leak in gallery 10, which shows an Assyrian frieze of a lion hunt, in January 2020 The Art Newspaper

Meanwhile,The Art Newspaperhas recorded leaks in the Assyrian galleries multiple times. Near recently, on 18 October, an ancient Assyrian frieze in gallery vii was seen covered in plastic. The spokesperson says: "There was a faulty actuator on the window, which has been replaced. Rainfall on to this roof has been redirected to alleviate volumes of water experienced during heavy rainfall. The issues accept been dealt with simply the plastic is staying in place as a precaution." In gallery 10 next door, the floor tiles appear stained and croaky.

An ancient Assyrian frieze on display in gallery 7 is at present wrapped in plastic as a "precaution". Photograph taken on 18 October 2021 The Art Newspaper

Stained and cracked floor tiles in gallery 10. Photo taken on xviii October 2021 The Art Newspaper

In January 2020, the brandish of treasures from the aboriginal Assyrian city of Nimrud in gallery 7 was closed for maintenance The Art Newspaper

A major challenge is that "there is no overall encompassing design" to the Greek and Assyrian galleries, says Jonathan Williams, the museum'south deputy director. "You have a serial of complex rooms added at different times and all needing different levels and kinds of maintenance caused by the passage of time and the effects of the weather condition," he says.

Grants for essential repairs

In March 2020, the National Audit Office published a written report on the maintenance needs of the 15 museums sponsored past the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), including the British Museum. This noted that grant-in-help subsidies for all the museums fell by 20% when adjusted for inflation betwixt 2010/11 (£361m) and 2018/19 (£333m).

While the museums have ramped upwardly fund-raising from corporate and individual sponsors, the study notes that these donors "often have conditions attached [to their gifts]…they generally desire to support visible projects such as new galleries. Museums are therefore reliant on [DCMS funding for] non-public-facing operations, such as estate maintenance and the upkeep of core infrastructure such every bit roofs."

According to the study, the British Museum requested £48.4m for maintenance over the five years from 2016/17 to 2020/21 and received £21.3m. In April 2019, DCMS allocated the museum an additional £12m from a new maintenance fund set up to support urgent repairs. In March 2020, the government'south national museums maintenance fund gave it a farther £5m. In July, information technology received £nine.8m for essential maintenance delayed by the pandemic—£2.7m of which is earmarked for the fabric and roofs of galleries—from DCMS's £60m Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund. The museum is now waiting to hear how much information technology volition go from the Treasury'south £300m investment over iii years in estate maintenance for arm'south-length cultural bodies, appear as role of the autumn 2021 budget in Oct.

Museum masterplan

Under its manager Hartwig Fischer, the British Museum is drawing up a comprehensive masterplan which will overhaul all of its galleries and redisplay all of its collections, just it volition take decades to raise funds for and implement the project. The showtime stage is a £64m storage and research facility in Berkshire in partnership with the University of Reading, due to open in 2024.

And so, it will be several years before the museum is able to turn its attention to upgrading the Greek and Assyrian galleries. Until and so, it will perform "localised repairs" as required. "There will be regular interventions to preserve the building," says the spokesperson, adding that this is "not a long-term solution". The museum is "in word with DCMS about the need for much more pregnant capital investment in the building over the coming years".