THE BRITISH MUSEUM has announced it is removing the Sackler name from the institution, whose foundation made donations to the museum from the 1990s up to the 2010s.
It is the latest cultural institution to cut ties with the Sackler name, removing it from “galleries, rooms and endowments they supported”, British Museum chairman George Osborne announced.
The Sackler name is synonymous with huge charitable donations to galleries and museums across the UK.
However, controversy surrounds it over the funding and owning of Purdue Pharma, which produces OxyContin, a painkiller that promoted public concerns during the US opioid crisis.
The National Portrait Gallery, Tate and the Roundhouse are among those to have turned down Sackler money in recent years.
The chairman of the British Museum announced that it has “reached agreement” with the Raymond & Beverly Sackler Foundation to remove the name from their walls.
“We’re moving into a new era, presenting our great collection in different ways for new audiences,” Osborne tweeted.
In a statement to The Guardian, the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation said it has admired the work of the British Museum over the years.
It said: “As the museum develops a new masterplan to transform for the future, we feel this decision comes at a unique moment in the museum’s evolution.”
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