The leading Scottish museum director Neil MacGregor is stepping down from leading the British Museum, he has told staff.
His lauded term as director of one of the world's most prestigious institutions will come to an end in December this year.
MacGregor, from Glasgow, has been director since 2002.
He said: "It's a very difficult thing to leave the British Museum.
"Working with this collection and above all with the colleagues here has been the greatest privilege of my professional life.
"But I've decided that now is the time to retire from full-time employment and the end of this year seems a good time to go.
"The new building has been completed, so we at last have proper exhibition space, new conservation and scientific facilities, and first class accommodation for our growing research activities.
"We have built strong partnerships with fellow museums across the UK, and are rapidly expanding our programme of loans and training around the world."
He added: "The museum is now ready to embark on a new phase - deploying the collection to present different histories of the world. It is an exhilarating prospect, and it will start with the new Islamic Galleries and with plans for the future of the Old Reading Room."
MacGregor, born in 1946, was born the son of two doctors in Glasgow and has spoken of the formative experience of visiting the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum as a child.
The director, who attended Glasgow Academy, said he would no longer be working full time but will still be involved in a number of projects, including working with the BBC and the British Museum on a new Radio 4 series on Faith and Society.
He will be chairing an Advisory Board to make recommendations to the German Minister of Culture, Monika Grütters.
Sir Richard Lambert, chair of the British Museum, said: "Neil MacGregor has been an outstanding director of the British Museum and has made an extraordinary contribution to public life in the UK and beyond.
"The Trustees are hugely grateful for everything he has done to bring the collection to life, and to tell its many different stories.
"We respect his decision to move on, and want to support him in his new projects.
"We are now starting the process of looking for someone to take on what will be one of the best and most challenging jobs of its kind in the world.
"The Museum is in great shape, and we are fortunate to have an outstanding team in place to lead its activities and help build its future with the new Director."
The British Museum has been the most visited attraction in the UK for eight years running.
Numbers have increased from 4.6 million in 2002/03 to 6.7 million in 2014/15.
MacGregor studied languages at Oxford, philosophy at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, and Law in Edinburgh, before reading History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
He lectured at the University of Reading and the Courtauld Institute.
In 1981 he became Editor of The Burlington Magazine and Director of the National Gallery in 1987.
He has been Director of the British Museum since August 2002.
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