Sainsbury’s gift will cover nearly a fifth of the British Museum’s bill for the Richard Roger’s designed extension with the government promising £22.5 million.
It is the largest donation to a British arts institution by a living donor since John Paul Getty gave £50 million to the National Gallery in 1985.
A spokeswoman for the British Museum is reported in the Telegraph as saying, “This is an incredibly important project for the British Museum and has been planned for a long time.”
“This donation is a vital part of the project. It’s been talked about and worked (on) for a long period of time,” she said. “There’s no doubt it’s incredibly generous and it will benefit future generations.”
The donation came at a time of expected austerity in arts funding in Britain. On Sept. 10, major artists including David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, and Antony Gormley launched Savethearts.org to overcome the British government’s cut in cultural funding.
As David Shrigley campaign cartoon notes, eight out of the top 10 tourist attractions in the U.K. are museums.
Large temporary shows will be housed in the British Museum’s new building. Recent exhibitions like the Terracotta Army and Hadrian have been shown in adapted space in what was the round reading room, a famous legacy from when the building belonged to the British Library.
