British Museum Director Nicholas Cullinan is fond of quoting from the Italian novel The Leopard - "If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change" - but there is one thing he does not want to change and that is who is in charge at the London institution.
Cullinan, who took over last year, told The Times of London he hoped to stay in the top job to see the museum's 300th anniversary is in 2053.
The 47-year-old said: “This is the greatest job in the greatest museum in the world. I can see myself still being here, unless I go under a bus.”
One other thing he says should not change is the museum collection which includes contested treasures from Benin bronzes, Ethiopian artifacts and most famously the Parthenon Marbles - all of which are subject to demands for their return.
But Cullinan, who described the Marbles as "talismanic objects of this museum", told the newspaper: "It is the world’s greatest collection. I don’t see my job as undoing that."