V&A museum director Martin Roth to resign after Brexit

Right after the results of the UK's EU referendum, Martin Roth told DW that he considered the "outcome as a personal defeat."

Less than three months later, he has decided to step down from the position as the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, as confirmed through different media reports on Sunday. He will officially announce his departure on Monday (05.09.2016).

Although he claims Brexit was not the main reason for his departure, he explained in an interview with German radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that "the time for nice exhibitions is over. The anti-European stance is growing daily here."

One of the best museums in the world

Appointed in 2011, the 61-year-old German became the first foreign director of the museum since its foundation in 1852. The reputation of the museum has flourished during his five-year tenure.

Last July, the V&A was named 2016 Museum of the Year, winning the UK's largest arts prize.

The Alexander McQueen retrospective, part of its recent exhibition program, obtained a record number of visitors for the museum. The successful touring exhibition "David Bowie Is" was also developed by the V&A. The upcoming exhibition on Pink Floyd is also bound to attract the masses.

"It was already one of the best-loved museums in the country: this year it has indisputably become one of the best museums in the world," said the president of the jury Stephen Deuchar when the prize was awarded.

Political challenges ahead

Roth was previously curator at Berlin's German History Museum and director of the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden, where he also served as director general of the city's State Art Collections.

Last June, he was appointed as the President of the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, an honorary position he will take on as of mid-2017.

On further future plans, he told Deutschlandfunk: "I simply want to get politically involved again."

eg/rb (with dpa)