Hartwig Fischer stands in the British Museum

Fischer was Director of the British Museum from 2016 until he resigned in August 2023

Photo: Benedict Johnson

Changing Faces

Former British Museum boss to head up Saudi museum

Arts Professional
2 min read

HARTWIG FISCHER will be the Director of a new museum of world culture in the Royal Arts Complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, set to open in 2026.

Fischer served as Director of the British Museum from 2016 until he resigned in August 2023 after the theft of around 1,500 artefacts over several decades was made public. Concerns about the missing items were first raised to museum bosses in 2021, but an investigation launched by Fischer initially dismissed the warning.

A German art historian, he began his career as a research assistant and later as a curator at the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland, before becoming Director of the Folkwang Museum, Essen, in 2006.

In 2012, Fischer was appointed Director General of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, and was responsible for 14 museums and associated libraries, archives, and research centres. 

When he left the British Museum last year, Fischer said: “Looking ahead, I am excited about the next phase of my career, moving beyond the institutional framework of a single museum to engage in the rescue and preservation of cultural heritage in times of climate crisis, conflict, war, and violence.”

In his next role, Fischer will head up the as-yet-unnamed museum, housed in a 360-foot-high building designed by the Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill.

The Saudi Museums Commission said the museum will "exhibit Saudi and Arabian Peninsula heritage and highlight the cultures that have emerged and expanded over time from Africa across Asia, Europe, Oceania, and the Americas".

The new museum forms part of a wider cultural transformation of Saudi Arabia as it seeks to diversify its oil-reliant economy, courting Western organisations to capitalise on business opportunities.