2025-08-08
38 分钟This is The Guardian.
Hello, my name is Claire Longrick and I'm Deputy Editor of The Guardian Long Read.
This summer, we want to bring you our top picks of the year so far on the audio Long Read.
One of my absolute favourites is a profile of the British Museum by Charlotte Higgins,
our chief writer on arts and culture,
and a great chronicler of institutions like the Tate, the Houses of Parliament and even the Archers.
The museum has been hit by a series of crises over the past few years,
capped by the shocking news that a curator had allegedly stolen and sold over a thousand items from the collection.
This scandal was the starting point for the piece,
but the museum has undergone many upheavals in its 300-year history.
Charlotte gives a fascinating account of what goes on behind the galleries.
Not just the nefarious deeds,
but the careful work by underpaid experts passionate about the treasures in their care.
While politicians argue about repatriating artworks bought or stolen from Benin and Greece and elsewhere.
and campaign groups object to sponsorship by fossil fuel companies.
Charlotte describes the museum as a sprawling,
chaotic reflection of Britain's psyche over 300 years,
demonstrated in the institution's current shaky status and lack of self-confidence.
With a new director in post,
the piece asks whether the museum can survive its omnicrisis and rebuild trust in a historic national institution.