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| What would be the implications for the British Museum if Scotland voted for independence? | What would be the implications for the British Museum if Scotland voted for independence? |
| (3 months later) | |
| "Let's jump off that bridge when we get to it," said Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, when pressed on the putative future of the institution were Scotland to become independent. | "Let's jump off that bridge when we get to it," said Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, when pressed on the putative future of the institution were Scotland to become independent. |
| The question was raised at a British Museum press conference today not by a journalist, but, intriguingly, by Gus O'Donnell, cabinet secretary under three prime ministers and once the most powerful civil servant in the land. | The question was raised at a British Museum press conference today not by a journalist, but, intriguingly, by Gus O'Donnell, cabinet secretary under three prime ministers and once the most powerful civil servant in the land. |
| Even so – after pointing out that his would be one of dozens of "British" institutions that would have to rethink if the union dissolved – MacGregor conceded that there would be a huge "existential question" for the museum, which was founded by act of parliament in 1753, were the vote to swing in favour of independence next year. | Even so – after pointing out that his would be one of dozens of "British" institutions that would have to rethink if the union dissolved – MacGregor conceded that there would be a huge "existential question" for the museum, which was founded by act of parliament in 1753, were the vote to swing in favour of independence next year. |
| "It's a very serious question," said the Glaswegian. "The British Museum is the first cultural evidence of the union. It was part of the response to the events of 1745 – the first British thing created after that threat to the union – and it sent out a big statement. It was marrying Scottish Enlightenment ideas to the London's global contact, and it was a real expression of what that new country [Britain] was." | "It's a very serious question," said the Glaswegian. "The British Museum is the first cultural evidence of the union. It was part of the response to the events of 1745 – the first British thing created after that threat to the union – and it sent out a big statement. It was marrying Scottish Enlightenment ideas to the London's global contact, and it was a real expression of what that new country [Britain] was." |
| It may be that the question is more philosophical than practical: after all, the British Museum is the biggest international lender of objects in the world, and it's pretty unthinkable that it would break links with Scotland if it became independent. (Having loaned one of its most precious things to Tehran, for example, one feels it's hardly going to block out Edinburgh, however tetchy things have been about the fate of the Lewis chessmen, several of which are planned to go on permanent loan to Stornaway.) | It may be that the question is more philosophical than practical: after all, the British Museum is the biggest international lender of objects in the world, and it's pretty unthinkable that it would break links with Scotland if it became independent. (Having loaned one of its most precious things to Tehran, for example, one feels it's hardly going to block out Edinburgh, however tetchy things have been about the fate of the Lewis chessmen, several of which are planned to go on permanent loan to Stornaway.) |
| By way of comparison the British Council, for example, has said that whatever the outcome of the independence vote it will still support cultural projects from Scotland, such as its presence at the Venice Biennale. | By way of comparison the British Council, for example, has said that whatever the outcome of the independence vote it will still support cultural projects from Scotland, such as its presence at the Venice Biennale. |
| The other side of the coin is how relevant the British Museum actually feels as a cultural expression in Glasgow, Inverness or Aberdeen – especially when Edinburgh has its own National Museum, albeit with a different focus from that of the Bloomsbury institution. | The other side of the coin is how relevant the British Museum actually feels as a cultural expression in Glasgow, Inverness or Aberdeen – especially when Edinburgh has its own National Museum, albeit with a different focus from that of the Bloomsbury institution. |
| Is the post-Enlightenment Britishness of the London museum utterly out of synch with a fracturing, post-imperial world? Or is its new connectedness via the web and its vigorous commitment to national links beyond London (not least sending its Pharoah: King of Egypt exhibition to Kelvingrove) proving it to be as crucial as ever, in fact ever more so? All this is speculation for now, but if Scotland becomes independent it will, beyond a doubt, change the terms of engagement for the museum on both sides of the border. | Is the post-Enlightenment Britishness of the London museum utterly out of synch with a fracturing, post-imperial world? Or is its new connectedness via the web and its vigorous commitment to national links beyond London (not least sending its Pharoah: King of Egypt exhibition to Kelvingrove) proving it to be as crucial as ever, in fact ever more so? All this is speculation for now, but if Scotland becomes independent it will, beyond a doubt, change the terms of engagement for the museum on both sides of the border. |
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