Alistair Hardaker | Image: Hélène Duchêne, Nicholas Cullinan, George Osborne at Piccadilly Circus (Trustees of the British Museum)
Museum acknowledges range of new measures to address what trustee calls ‘teething troubles’.
The British Museum has announced plans to extend the opening hours for its Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, as part of its response to the high demand for its blockbuster exhibition.
The museum said it will introduce longer opening hours to cut down on queues forming outside the exhibition, and will add additional seating for those still waiting to enter. The specifics of the extended hours have not yet been announced by the museum.
The changes are the latest hoped to stop queues from building during the day, and allow those in later time slots time to get into the gallery.
A British Museum spokesperson said it was aware that some visitors have faced longer queues than it would have wanted.
A new audio guide is also being introduced, after a blind man launched legal action against the museum’s lack of audio-described tours.
Blind man launches legal action over Bayeux Tapestry audio access
Museum trustee Mary Beard told the Guardian “We had to expect some teething troubles – this isn’t like an ordinary exhibition, everyone has come to see the same one object! The important thing is to put those teething troubles right.”
Since tickets first went on sale in July, demand for the exhibition has been high, with an unprecedented 100,000 tickets sold in its first day. A second tranche of tickets have now gone on sale to members, and will become available to the general public on October 21.
