The management team at the British Museum in London has seen many changes since the scandal over a curator’s theft of 2,000 ancient pieces exposed flaws in the management of the collection in 2023; starting with the new director, Nicholas Cullinan appointed in 2024.
He has just appointed Xerxes Mazda as director of the museum’s collections. The current Director of Collections at the British Library (for four years) will take on this new position consisting of “member of the management group, deputy to the director, and contribute to the development and delivery of museum services”.
Xerxes Mazda knows the British Museum well having been responsible for training volunteers and the public from 2005 to 2013. He then served as Deputy Director at the Royal Ontario Museum from 2013 to 2015, then Director of Collections at the National Museum of Scotland from 2015 to 2021.
The new collections director also arrives at a time when the museum is in the midst of a major reconfiguration, including the extension and renovation of the Bloomsbury building, a ten-year project estimated to cost £1 billion (€1.2 billion). ). “There are great opportunities on the horizon with the master plan, and I am passionate about how we will engage visitors in the best possible way through exhibitions and outreach activities”said Xerxes Mazda.
Xerxes Mazda holds an MSc in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge. He also holds a master’s degree in the history of technology from Imperial College London. He is a member of the Kew Gardens Scientific Advisory Committee and a board member of Northern Academic Libraries, Britten Pears Arts and Director of the European Research Libraries Consortium.
The British Museum in London.
© Ham