Neil MacGregor, director who led British Museum to new popularity, to step down

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FILE - In this Friday Dec. 5, 2014 file photo, British Museum director Neil MacGregor attends the opening of the exhibition on Greek art, with the marble sculpture of the river god Ilissos, rear, in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. British Museum director Neil MacGregor, who led the London institution as it became the country\'s top tourist draw, is stepping down. The museum said Wednesday April 8, 2015 that MacGregor will leave in December after 13 years. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky, File)

LONDON – British Museum director Neil MacGregor, who led the London institution as it became the country’s top tourist draw, is stepping down.

The museum said Wednesday that MacGregor will leave in December after 13 years.

MacGregor, who is 68, says he will retire from full-time work but will take part-time posts, including advising Germany’s minister of culture on Berlin’s Humboldt Forum museum project. He will also work with Mumbai’s CSMVS Museum.

The British Museum drew 6.7 million visitors in 2014-15, more than any other attraction in the country.

Since taking the helm in 2002, MacGregor has overseen acclaimed exhibitions on topics including Ice Age society, ancient Pompeii and the Vikings.

He has also resisted calls from Greece for the return of friezes taken from the Parthenon in Athens 200 years ago.

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