Returning to the British Museum for the First Time in Over 1 Year!

Written by George Peckham, ITP Assistant

Last week I had the chance to finally return to the British Museum! This was the first time I have been to the Museum since its closure in March 2020, a massive 15 months ago!!

It was also my first time seeing Anna Cottle (ITP Coordinator) in person since that initial Museum closure. Since then we have worked exclusively on the ITP online through virtual meetings and emails. It was a very refreshing change of pace to be able to work together on ITP in person back at the Museum!

We came back to the Museum to work onsite in preparation for this year’s ITP Summer Programme, which this year will be called the Annual Programme. We plan to share more details about how the ITP is working this year very soon.

It felt slightly strange to be back the Museum. There are a few things different about working in the office again. Wearing masks is mandatory when moving around the building and there are many sanitising stations where you can clean your hands and work space. There are also set routes you can walk around the building to reduce congestion.

However, the galleries are the same and it felt really nice to walk through the various rooms and see some of the displays again. I hope I can come back again soon and see the temporary exhibitions on show at the moment. It was great to see visitors back at the Museum, even though it was not quite the usually busy Great Court that we are all used to!

Stay tuned for more updates about the ITP in 2021. Hopefully we are a step closer to welcoming our ITP colleagues back at the British Museum soon.