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Lord Sainsbury donates £25m to British Museum | Lord Sainsbury donates £25m to British Museum |
(about 6 hours later) | |
A Conservative peer has donated £25m to the British Museum in what is thought to be the biggest gift to the arts for two decades. | A Conservative peer has donated £25m to the British Museum in what is thought to be the biggest gift to the arts for two decades. |
The money, from Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover - a former chairman of the supermarket chain - will go towards a major redevelopment of the London museum's facilities. | The money, from Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover - a former chairman of the supermarket chain - will go towards a major redevelopment of the London museum's facilities. |
It will help fund a new World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre. | It will help fund a new World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre. |
A spokeswoman for the museum described the donation as "incredibly generous". | A spokeswoman for the museum described the donation as "incredibly generous". |
She said the gift was a vital part of a project which would "benefit future generations". | |
"This is an incredibly important project for the British Museum and has been planned for a long time," the spokeswoman added. | |
£125m project | |
Donations from other private donors and a £22.5m government grant are also being used to fund the project, which will feature a conservation and science centre. | |
The centre, which will cost more than £125m, will include a gallery to house temporary collections which can compete with other UK and international institutions. | |
Planning permission for the centre was granted by Camden Council in October 2009. | |
The building will be made of glass and traditional stone, which the museum says will blend well with its Grade I listed surroundings. | |
The exhibition main space will be more than 1,000 sq m (10,764 sq ft), large enough to accommodate big temporary exhibitions such as the 2007 display of Chinese terracotta warriors. | |
Until now these have been held in the Reading Room, resulting in controversy because the historic surroundings were obscured. | |
New science laboratories will be built in the centre in which exhibits can be researched and restored. | |
State of the art machinery will be installed to study artefacts in forensic detail. | |
The gift comes at a time when many cultural organisations are facing a funding squeeze amid financial cutbacks. | The gift comes at a time when many cultural organisations are facing a funding squeeze amid financial cutbacks. |
The Sunday Times reported Lord Sainsbury's gift as the biggest to the arts in Britain since philanthropist Sir Paul Getty pledged £50m to the National Gallery and £40m to the British Film Institute in 1985. | |
In the same year, Lord Sainsbury and his brothers The Hon Simon Sainsbury and Sir Timothy Sainsbury financed the construction of the Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery, which cost a total of about £50m and opened in 1991. | |
The Sunday Times said Lord Sainsbury's other donations include £10m for a recent renovation of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum and money for the Linbury studio theatre at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. | The Sunday Times said Lord Sainsbury's other donations include £10m for a recent renovation of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum and money for the Linbury studio theatre at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. |