Hartwig Fischer, the former director of the British Museum who resigned last year after a devastating theft scandal, has been appointed as the founding director of a new museum of world cultures in Riyadh, according to a statement from the Saudi Museums Commission. The museum is due to open in 2026.
Fischer will “set the foundations for the museum and lead it, based on his global expertise in leading international cultural institutions and museums,” the Saudi Museums Commission said. It did not specify when he will take up the post.
The new museum, currently under construction, is to be housed in a 110m-high building designed by the Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill, located in the Royal Arts Complex in King Salman Park, the statement said. It will “exhibit Saudi and Arabian Peninsula heritage and highlight the cultures that have emerged and expanded over time from Africa across Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas,” the release continued, describing it as “a pivotal moment in Saudi Arabia’s cultural renaissance”.
Fischer left the British Museum in August 2023, a year earlier than expected, after the discovery that hundreds of items had been stolen from the museum’s Greek and Roman department over a number of years. The museum fired several staff members and has opened legal proceedings against a former curator. The curator’s son has denied that his father was involved in the theft.
In announcing his resignation, Fischer said “it is evident that the British Museum did not respond as comprehensively as it should have in response to the warnings in 2021,” adding that “the responsibility for that failure must ultimately rest with the director”.