The British Museum have announced that the eight-year leadership of Hartwig Fischer will come to an end in 2024. As of this autumn, the London institution will be looking for a new director.

Hartwig Fischer, a German art historian who previously held positions at the Dresden State Art Collections, the Museum Folkwang in Essen and the Kunstmuseum Basel, became the first non-British director of the British Museum since 1866 when he took over from Neil MacGregor in 2016. An important aspect of his role at the museum was to work on what is internally known as ‘the masterplan’ – an extensive renovation of the historic building. In a statement, Fischer said, “in 2016, I was called to the British Museum to prepare the essential renovation of a building in need of rejuvenation, a global icon of museum architecture whose complex architectural substance calls for urgent, large-scale intervention. The renovation work itself will take several decades, but the mission I was given by the Trustees has been accomplished: the foundations of the BM Masterplan are now laid.”

During Fischer’s time as director, he has overseen the creation of a new research and storage facility, which will open in Reading next year, and the refurbishment of several galleries including the Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery of China and South Asia, the Mitsubishi Corporation of Japanese Galleries, and the Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World. The past eight years have also seen several important exhibitions come to fruition, such as those on Stonehenge, China’s Hidden Century, the Arctic, Troy, Peru and many more.

But Fischer’s leadership has not been without controversy. The new director will have to take on the ongoing and unresolved issue of the Parthenon Marbles – Rishi Sunak has recently vowed to keep them in the UK, claiming that they are a “huge asset” to the country. For his part, Fischer has been accused of making imperialist comments with regards to the Parthenon Marbles, defending the British Museum’s ownership of them in 2019.

George Osborne, chairman of the British Museum, spoke very positively about Fischer’s stint as director. “Hartwig can look back on eight years as director with pride in his great achievements. He has led the British Museum through a pivotal period, developing a comprehensive masterplan for a bright, long-term future. He has been an intellectual tour de force.” Osborne added that “he has led the dedicated staff of the museum through difficult periods, such as the Covid lockdowns and today’s inflation pressures.” Although the British Museum has suffered the same fall in visitor numbers as other major museums since prior to the pandemic, The Art Newspaper reported earlier this year that it was the most-visited art museum in the UK in 2022 and the third globally.