The British Museum can’t catch a break. Following the scandal around an alleged huge theft, it’s also beset by room closures due to their poor condition. This month it is 10 years since the museum’s famous library, housed under the dome in the centre of the Great Court, closed its doors and became a storage and handling space for the museum’s archives.
Historian Simon Schama is among those missing it. “That Reading Room made me an historian,” he said. “So many powerful memories.” The room was a favourite of figures including Karl Marx, Lenin and Arthur Conan Doyle. We hear that bosses are frustrated, and have recently started small public tours. Meanwhile, rival reading rooms are getting better press: The London Library welcomed actor Tom Hanks for a visit this week.
