Yesterday the museum announced the energy company would be helping to fund its ambitious "masterplan" project, a redevelopment estimated to cost £1bn. There will be wholesale modernization of its grand but ailing building in Bloomsbury, central London, culminating in a redisplay of the entire collection.
The museum said the "scale, complexity and importance" of the masterplan, which has been years in the planning, "means it will be one of the most significant cultural redevelopment projects ever undertaken".
The museum said BP's money was the biggest ever single donation to the UK's cultural sector. It will go towards the architectural renovation of galleries on the western side of the museum that house collections including artefacts from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The donation has been condemned by campaigners who accuse the energy company of trying to greenwash its reputation.
Chris Garrard, a co-director of the campaign group Culture Unstained, said the deal was "astonishingly out of touch", "completely indefensible" and would be formally challenged by campaigners.
"The only way you can sign up to a new sponsorship deal with a planet-wrecking fossil fuel company in 2023 is by burying your head in the sand, pretending the climate crisis isn't happening, and ignoring the almost complete rejection of fossil fuel funding by the cultural sector in recent years," he said.
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