Martin Roth (museum director)

For other people named Martin Roth, see Martin Roth (disambiguation).

Martin Roth
File:2014-06-06 Hannover, Opening 5. KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, (066) Prof. Dr. Martin Roth (Victoria and Albert Museum, London).jpg Martin Roth in June 2014 at the opening of the Kunstfestspiele Herrenhausen in Hanover
Born	16 January 1955 Stuttgart, Germany
Residence	London, U.K.
Alma mater	University of Tübingen
Occupation	Museum director

Martin Roth (German pronunciation: [ˈmaʁtiːn ˈʁoːt]; born 16 January 1955, Stuttgart) is a German museum director. Since 2011, he has been Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Early life

Martin Roth was born on 16 January 1955 in Stuttgart, Germany. He received a PhD from the University of Tübingen, where he wrote a thesis about the history of museums and cultural politics in the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich.

Career

Roth became a researcher at the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, E.H.E.S.S. in Paris in 1987. Subsequently, in 1992, he became a visiting scholar at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. He was the Curator at the Deutsches Historisches Museum from 1989 to 2001, and the Director of the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden, the first German science museum, from 1991 to 2000. He was President of the German Museums Association from 1995 to 2003, and a member of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Advisory Board in Berlin until his relocation to London in 2011. From 1996 to 2001, Roth was a member of the senior management of the Expo 2000 in Hanover and Director of Thematic Exhibitions.

Roth was Director General of the Dresden State Art Collections, overseeing 12 museums and galleries. He became Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in September 2011.

Roth is a Trustee of the British Council and a member of both the Council of the Royal College of Art and the Court of Imperial College London. In 2007, Roth was appointed to the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in the rank of Chevalier, and in 2010 to the Danish Order of Dannebrog.