The British Museum was partially closed after a fired IT employee shut down some of its computer systems, museum management said. The museum located in Central London, which attracts almost 6 million visitors a year, closed its temporary exhibitions and part of its permanent collection following the alleged attack.
“An IT contractor who was dismissed last week trespassed into the museum and shut down several of our systems,” a museum spokesperson said. “We are working hard to get the museum back to being fully operational but with regret our temporary exhibitions have been closed today and will remain so over the weekend – ticket holders have been alerted and refunds offered.”
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The Metropolitan Police force stated officers responded to reports that a man had entered the British Museum and damaged the museum’s security and IT systems. It said a man in his 50’s was arrested on suspicion of burglary and criminal damage. He has been released on bail as the inquiry continues.
The 266-year-old museum has also faced some of the major challenges in recent years. It is still trying to recover more than 1,800 items that are believed to have been stolen by a former curator and placed for online sale. Peter Higgs, who served in the museum’s Greece and Rome department for 30 years, was fired in July 2023 and is being sued by the organization. He denies the accusations.
The Museum director Hartwig Fischer, who resigned in August 2023, accepted that the institution’s management had not taken the alerts seriously and had ignored warnings that items such as gold jewelry, semi-precious gems and ancient artifacts dating back to the 15th century B.C were being stolen from the collection and sold on eBay.
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