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£1-Million Gift Staves Off
British Library Visitor Fees

A gift of £1 million will allow the British Library to avoid charging visitor fees for the treasures gallery in the library's new St. Pancras facility. Presented by John Ritblat, multimillionaire chairman of British Land, the money will be used to endow the new gallery, which will house many of the library's priceless objects, including the Gutenberg Bible of 1455 and the Magna Carta.

The library has been wrestling with the issue of admission charges ever since its government grant was frozen five years ago. Sources say library officials are still considering charging scholars to use the reading rooms.

The treasures are being moved from the library's former home in the British Museum, and will be displayed together for the first time in one of three large public galleries at St. Pancras, which are scheduled to open April 21.

Posted April 6, 1998.

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