Dr Timothy Potts, who has been Director of the Kimbell Art Museum in Texas since 1998, and was formerly Director of the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia (1994-98), is to become the next Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge.

Potts will succeed Duncan Robinson who has been Director of the principal museum of the University of Cambridge since 1995.

Potts is a specialist in the art and archaeology of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean on which he has written widely. His books include Mesopotamia and the East: An Archaeological and Historical Study of Foreign Relations, 3400 – 2000 BC (Oxford 1994); as co-editor of Culture Through Objects: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honour of P.R.S. Moorey (Oxford 2003); and as series editor of Cradles of Civilization (1993 -).

He was educated at the University of Sydney (BA Hons) and holds a D.Phil from the University of Oxford. He has held academic positions at Christ Church, Oxford (1985 – 90) and, in conjunction with his museum directorships, at the University of Melbourne (1996 – 98) and La Trobe Universtiy. He was co-director of the University of Sydney excavations at Pella, Jordan from 1982 to 1989.

University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Professor Alison Richard said: “The Fitzwilliam Museum has flourished under Duncan Robinson's leadership. University museums are unique among museums, in that they reach wide audiences while simultaneously making important contributions to scholarship and the education of students. The Fitzwilliam plays this role brilliantly. Timothy Potts recognizes and treasures this, and I know he will be an outstanding leader for the years to come.”

Speaking on his appointment Timothy Potts said: “The Fitzwilliam is highly regarded throughout Europe and is one of Britain's greatest cultural treasures. I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to join its distinguished staff, and very fortunate to do so at a time when the museum has been invigorated by the new gallery spaces and other initiatives of Duncan Robinson. The platform for further developing its exhibition programme, and for enhancing awareness of its outstanding collections to new generations of students and visitors, is clearly in place and provides many enticing challenges for the future.”

Anne Lonsdale, Chairman of the Syndicate for the Fitzwilliam Museum, said: "We are very much looking forward to his arrival in Cambridge. This will be an exciting appointment."

The Fitzwilliam Museum houses the University of Cambridge's collections of art and antiquities and is a public museum and art gallery with an international reputation. More than half a million objects and works of art are held in five curatorial departments: Antiquities, Applied Arts, Coins and Medals, Manuscripts and Printed Books and Paintings, Drawings and Prints.

The Fitzwilliam's treasures range from Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities to the arts of the 21st century and include masterpieces by Titian, Canaletto, Stubbs, Constable, Monet, Renoir and Picasso, one of the world's foremost Rembrandt print collections, Handel music manuscripts and the famous Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, one of the most significant collections of Korean ceramics outside East Asia, medieval illuminated manuscripts and outstanding collections of pottery, porcelain and medieval coins.

The Fitzwilliam Museum welcomes over 300,000 visitors a year, offers a wide-ranging programme of temporary exhibitions and events, and has an award-winning Education Service. The Museum is open Tuesday – Saturday: 10.00 – 17.00, Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays: 12.00 - 17.00.

Admission to the permanent collections and to temporary exhibitions is free.

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