Stealing from museums is easier than you might think

Go into the British Museum. Ignore the Rosetta Stone; don’t turn left for the Parthenon sculptures; don’t be seduced by the sumptuous naked statue of Venus. Instead, head up the stairs to Room 69. Here, it is quieter. There is the usual old stuff: Greek pots; some rude Roman decorations; and a pair of wooden double doors whose brass buzzer announces, expansively, that they lead to “GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES”. Press it, and no one answers. They are not likely to. Because, after a series of thefts, there are fewer antiquities behind this museum’s doors than there should be.

The British Museum is in trouble. Precisely how much is not yet clear. The museum has announced a few facts: objects dating as far back as the 15th century BC, including gold jewellery and gems, are “missing, stolen or damaged”. A staff member has been sacked. More details have, with archaeological painstakingness, been unearthed by others: it is said that the Museum first learnt of this in 2021; it is said Roman cameo gems are among the things stolen. This might sound small—the gems are tiddly. It is not. Dr Christos Tsirogiannis, who heads a UNESCO group on antiquities trafficking at Ionian University, says this is “probably the worst case so far…No one expects that to happen in a museum.”