Founded in 1753, the British Museum was designed to securely showcase some of the world’s most valuable objects, a guardianship role now enshrined in UK law. So, it was nothing short of a scandal when last year it emerged that up to 1500 of its artefacts had disappeared – some allegedly stolen by a museum insider.
The BBC’s Culture Editor Katie Razzall has spoken to some of those studying what happened. She joins Katya to consider whether the iconic institution remains fit for purpose, and if it should have the right to keep a hold of many of its controversially acquired items in the first place.
For more on this topic, you can search for Katie’s new nine-part series ‘Thief at the British Museum’ wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
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This episode was made by Laurie Kalus. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The assistant editor is Sergi Forcada Freixas and the senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
