As the lockdown has changed the life of the Museum?
Hartwig Fischer: Our visitors are our life source and without them, of course, was very hard. But during a lockdown, people showed great interest in our online programs. The collection is fully available online, so everyone could get remote access to any of the 4.5 million exhibits! Many we had online visitors from Russia, that is very encouraging. The Museum staff are professionals, they supported his work, continued to work with the audience, ensured the safety of the collections and the building itself.
in addition, I participated in some online activities in which they discussed the pandemic and how it affected the museums. I was lucky enough to take part in these discussions along with the Directors of other major world museums, in particular with Mikhail Piotrovsky (Director of the State Hermitage. – Approx. “RG”).
what do you think, after the pandemic, people will get used to visit virtual museums, or they like to see exhibits firsthand?
Hartwig Fischer: I think there is no substitute for the process of visiting the Museum when you can dive into the details of an exhibit, to reflect on who created them, how they were applied and as interpreted for centuries… Although the pandemic has really shown that people want to have online access to Museum collections, and we have this access to provide. If used to visit the British Museum had to come to London, now it is much easier to watch various video lectures by our curators, read blogs, study the 3D model exhibits and so on.
the UK Government allowed the museums and galleries again be open to visitors starting July 4th, but not everyone wants to do it – including the British Museum…
Hartwig Fischer: Our Museum will take a lot of time to return to “normal state” and make it work the safest for visitors. We are diligently preparing to open and will follow the instructions of the authorities with regards to physical distance, health and safety. (Among these recommendations is the sale of tickets online and they can be pegged to a specific time of the visit, laying in the corridors, one way routes, the replacement of audio guides on your mobile app, to which every visitor will have access from their personal device. – Approx. “RG”.)
Pandemic gave you new ideas for the future work of the Museum? Maybe you are preparing some exhibitions dedicated to this difficult period?
Hartwig Fischer: Many exhibits of our collections were the witnesses of those or other crises that happened in history – whether they are associated with ��darbiem, economy or climate change. Now I’m just talking about it in the special video interviews we do together with my colleagues at the Museum. In the first of them, for example, we are talking about oil lamp with four spouts of the ancient Levant, which tells us about the climatic changes that took place in the third Millennium BC. But if to speak directly about the pandemic, now we collect related objects to 10, 20, 50 and 100 years to be able to tell people about this extraordinary period of history.
Can you say that after the pandemic the museums will be the new reality? Or everything will be as it was before the coronavirus?
Hartwig Fischer: I don’t think we’re going to take and just go back to “life before COVID-19”. The changes will be, and quite deep, but they will be visible not at once. However, whatever new challenges, I believe that museums can help us to cope with them, will make it easier to communicate with each other. Our culture is fragile, and it is important for us to protect and explore it for future generations. To our visitors we have a special duty to look after the collections and all who would like to evaluate them, to understand and to find in them inspiration.
