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New British Museum doors would be ‘vandalism’
AMBITIOUS plans to build a new exhibition space in the British Museum would be “an act of needless vandalism”, according to conservation groups.
The Camden Civic Society and the Bloomsbury Conservation Area Advisory Committee have written to the museum urging them to revise their plans.
They are objecting to proposals that would see three doorways bored into a Grade I-listed stone wall of the Great Court to create entrances to a proposed new three-floor exhibition space.
Hero Granger-Taylor, of the Camden Civic Society, said: “The magnificent and monumental museum buildings are ours forever. Why spoil them with permanent alterations which are both thoughtless and needless?”
The Great Court was designed by the architect Robert Smirke in 1833, based on classic designs from a temple in the Greek Acropolis that had no openings or walkways.
The British Museum argues the changes are required to “protect the cultural patrimony of the world” by increasing its space for holdings. |
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Your comments:
WE should be proud that the museum wants to continue to improve the facilities it has to lend out items to other countries as well as create better environments to showcase its exhibitions. It would be really worrying if it never modernised itself to keep up with advancing technology and new opportunities to present and share its treasures. The Great Court itself is a new space within the museum so why not propose some changes to it?! I think it is an excellent proposal that should be supported.
E. Naylor
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