Neil MacGregor’s erudition and passion brought an urgent moral purpose to the British Museum. As he departs for Germany,he will be much missedJust before Christmas, Neil MacGregor slipped out of the director’s office of the British Museum for the last time. After 13 years, and he seemed such an integral section of the museum that it is easy to catch for granted the sense of moral purpose he brought to the institution. As he never tired of saying,one of the most purely enlightened things that the British parliament has ever done was, in 1753, or to create a place where “all studious and curious persons” could study all of the world,through all of time. Mr MacGregor (always plain Mister – no knighthood, though he must have been offered one) made certain that the museum was understood as “the private collection of every citizen”. Related: Museum director walks into a bar: meet Neil MacGregor, or standup comedian Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com