British Museum workers member sacked after treasures vanished named as senior curator

Aug 17, 2023 at 7:49 PM
British Museum workers member sacked after treasures vanished named as senior curator

The British Museum workers member sacked after the disappearance of plenty of artefacts has been named as Peter Higgs.

Mr Higgs, thought to be considered one of Britain’s prime consultants on Greek and Mediterranean artefacts, was the British Museum’s curator of Mediterranean cultures till earlier this yr.

The 56-year-old had been with the museum for nearly three many years.

Mr Higgs’ son denied his father had carried out something incorrect.

“He’s not happy about it at all,” Greg Higgs told The Times.

“He’s lost his job and his reputation and I don’t think it was fair. It couldn’t have been [him]. I don’t think there is even anything missing as far as I’m aware.”

(left to right) British Museum staff Peter John Higgs, Head of Greece and Rome Department and Hannah Boulton with Lybian Embassy Charge d'affaires Mohamed Elkoni (right) view the second century funerary statue depicting Demeter or Persephone at the Libyan Embassy, central London. The statue is being returned with help from the government, the Libyan Embassy and the British Museum after it was seized by HMRC when it was brought into the UK from Libya illegally by a dealer.
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Peter Higgs (left) was concerned in a venture in 2021 to return a statue to Libya

The British Museum stated gadgets that have been discovered to be “missing, stolen or damaged” included “gold jewellery and gems of semi-precious stones and glass dating from the 15th Century BC to the 19th Century AD”.

The majority have been “small pieces kept in a storeroom belonging to one of the museum’s collections”.

They have been primarily used for educational and analysis work and none had not too long ago been on public show.

British Museum officers started investigating after a number of artefacts were offered for sale on eBay.

The museum stated it is going to be taking authorized motion and the Metropolitan Police’s financial and crime command is investigating.

During his profession, Mr Higgs had written books from his work on the museum, together with co-authoring a e book in regards to the historic Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII.

The e book accompanied a significant exhibition in regards to the well-known ruler on the British Museum in 2001, which explored how she was depicted throughout her personal period, in works starting from cash to life-size sculptures.

Dr Peter Higgs, co-curator of Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth, a new exhibition that opened at the British Museum, with one of the exhibits - a black basalt statue of Cleopatra VII, carved between 51-30 BC.
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Peter Higgs had been with the museum for nearly 30 years. (Pictured on the opening of his Cleopatra exhibition in 2001).

Another e book revealed final yr targeted on the fragments of ornamental structure – generally known as Metopes – recovered from the Temple of Apollo at Bassai.

Mr Higgs additionally co-authored a 2016 e book in regards to the historic Sicilian tradition, which accompanied an exhibition on the museum on the time.

In 2021 was additionally concerned in curating a travelling exhibition in regards to the heroes, warriors and athletes of Ancient Greece, bringing collectively nearly 180 artefacts, together with a piece of a frieze that wrapped across the tomb of King Mausolus.

The exhibition, from the British Museum, was toured to museums in Australia and New Zealand.

In the identical yr, Mr Higgs was concerned in a venture to return a uncommon 2,000-year-old marble statue, believed to be of the Greek goddess Persephone, to Libya.

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The British Museum stated it is going to be taking authorized motion

The statue, believed to have come from the traditional Libyan metropolis of Cyrene, was seized by customs officers at Heathrow Airport in 2013.

It was seemingly stolen from a tomb within the cemetery in the course of the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

On its return to Libya, he informed The Guardian: “It is just lovely to be part of a story which has a happy ending.”

According to The Times, Mr Higgs, who lives in Hastings, East Sussex, went to high school in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, earlier than finding out archaeology on the University of Liverpool.

In an interview with The Greek Herald final yr, Mr Higgs stated he used to go to the British Museum repeatedly as a baby and was “fascinated by the large-scale sculptures”.

Asked why he significantly loved finding out Greek tradition, he stated: “There is the visual connection – the large temples, tombs and sculptures that have so inspired sculptors and architects over time.

“There are the good legends and tales of epic heroes, gods and goddesses which we have now recognized since childhood and the good legacies of the Greek world – splendidly profound tales became performs after which there’s the Olympic Games – an early and lasting try to advertise peace by means of shared pursuits. “