The British Museum, Tate Modern and Science Museum are among the UK cultural institutions being encouraged to charge foreign visitors to see their treasures. The former interim director of London's , Sir Mark Jones, believes foreign visitors to the UK’s museums and galleries should pay a £20 entrance fee. If adopted, the move would end the UK’s long-standing tradition of allowing everyone free access to its public galleries, regardless of their nationality.
UK galleries, however, do set an entrance fee for all visitors to specialist exhibitions or blockbuster shows. As it stands, the UK is an outlier when it comes to charging. In France, Greece, across Europe and the United States, visitors face paying a charge to enter their major cultural institutions.
France’s Louvre Museum in Paris - the home of the Mona Lisa - charges €22 per adult visitor, Greece’s Acropolis Museum in Athens charges €15, while visitors to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art face forking out $30 dollars (€28) to enter. Speaking in a personal capacity, as his tenure an interim director ended earlier this year, Sir Mark believes the extra cash raised from the charges are vital to ensure the long-term sustainability of the British Museum and the important UK cultural sector. He estimates that it will cost between £400 and £500 million to restore the British Museum’s leaky buildings and develop much need additional gallery space to showcase the millions of artefacts the museum holds ou.
