1 hour ago
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The head of the British Museum has apologised for the experience some visitors have had at its blockbuster Bayeux Tapestry exhibition.
The London institution has announced changes to how visitors see the historic work over concerns of overcrowding.
"Anyone that doesn't have a good experience, we're really sorry about that and we want to put it right," Nicholas Cullinan told the BBC's culture and media editor Katie Razzall.
The new plans include longer opening hours, an audio guide, additional seating and clearer signage.
Some people reported waits of up to two hours. Last week, hundreds of ticket holders were reportedly turned away due to backlogs when the museum closed early for a private event.
"You don't want anyone that comes to see it to have a bad experience, so our focus is very much on getting it right and learning lessons," Cullinan said.
"Obviously we want everyone that comes to have a fantastic experience. To put it into context, we're three weeks into the exhibition run. Next week, we'll hit our 100,000th visitor, which is a pretty extraordinary statistic. The vast number of visitors report having a very good experience."
Asked if the museum team had asked the embroidery's home museum in Bayeux for advice on queue management and timings, Cullinan said they had.
He also denied the museum had let too many people book tickets and said that the issues arose because visitors want to spend more time with the work than expected.
The problem "isn't just the interest, it's that people want to spend more time than anticipated. And that's a good thing. We want people to come and enjoy it, but it means we have to adjust accordingly and that's what we're doing," Cullinan said.
Some visitors have been spending longer than their allocated 40-minute slot viewing the tapestry, meaning others have to move through more quickly, he said.
