After a major theft scandal, the British Museum spent $12 million to digitize its entire collection

CTOnews.com The British Museum announced Wednesday, October 18, that it will spend $12 million (CTOnews.com notes: currently about 87.72 million yuan) to digitize its entire collection and improve public accessibility and transparency.

The British Museum's move came after a scandal exposed the theft of 2000 artifacts from the museum by a senior curator and 350 have been recovered.

Former curator Hartwig Fischer resigned over the theft scandal and is accused of failing to act after receiving a theft alert in 2021. The museum has since launched a website to track stolen artifacts.

"We have taken steps to improve security following the discovery of the theft of the collection and now believe such theft will not occur again," interim curator Mark Jones said in a statement. "

The British Museum estimates that the entire digitization project will last five years and cost about $12 million.

"It's a tough task, with 2.4 million records to upload or upgrade, but more than half of them have been completed," Jones said. When the project is complete, it means that everyone, no matter where they live in the world, will be able to see everything we have and use this amazing resource in many ways."

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