Head of Smithsonian museums announces he will be stepping down

The head of the Smithsonian Institution will be stepping down from his position by the end of the year, following pressure from the administration of United States President Donald Trump.

In a statement on Tuesday, Lonnie Bunch announced he was leaving the institution, an organisation that oversees one of the world’s largest collections of museums and educational and research centres.

“I leave with pride and sadness, gratitude and joy, and with enormous confidence in the people who will carry this remarkable institution forward,” Bunch said.

“It is time for my next chapter, a chapter that will allow me to continue to protect the integrity of the Smithsonian and to champion the importance of a history that illuminates and celebrates the complex story of our nation.”

Many of the Smithsonian’s museums occupy a place of pride on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

But since the start of Trump’s second term as US president, the institution has come under increasing fire from conservatives who object to its depictions of racism, colonialism and other aspects of US history.

While the Smithsonian does not fall under the president’s direct authority, a large part of its budget comes from the federal government, and the Trump administration has threatened to sever that funding stream over the institution’s alleged “anti-American ideology”.

In July, Trump had ordered the US Department of the Interior to erect “warning signs” near the entrance to the National Museum of American History to inform visitors about the museum’s alleged bias.