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The Ashmolean Museum (in full the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology) on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England is the world's first university museum. Its first building was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built in 1678–1683 to house the collection of curiosities Elias Ashmole gave Oxford University in 1677 — the ones he had collected himself as well as those he had inherited from the travellers John Tradescant, father and son. The collection included antique coins, books, engravings, geological specimens, and zoological specimens — one of which was the stuffed body of the last Dodo ever seen in Europe, but by 1755 it was so moth-eaten it was destroyed, except for its head and one claw. The museum opened on 6 June 1683, with naturalist Robert Plot as the first keeper.
After the various specimens had been moved into new museums, the "Old Ashmolean" building on Broad Street was used as office space for the Oxford English Dictionary staff. Since 1935, the building has been established as the Museum of the History of Science, with exhibitions including the scientific instruments given to Oxford University by Lewis Evans (1853–1930), amongst them the world's largest collection of astrolabes.
The present building dates from 1845. It was designed by Charles Cockerell in a classical style and stands on Beaumont Street. One wing of the building is occupied by the Taylor Institution, the modern languages faculty of the university. The main museum contains the original collections of Elias Ashmole and John Tradescant (father and son), as well as huge collections of archaeology specimens and fine art. It has one of the best collections of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, majolica pottery and English silver. The archaeology department includes the bequest of Arthur Evans and so has an excellent collection of Greek and Minoan pottery.
The interior of the Ashmolean has been extensively modernised in recent years and now includes a restaurant and large gift shop. The Sackler Library, incorporating the older library collections of the Ashmolean, opened in 2001 and has allowed an expansion of the book collection, which concentrates on classical civilization, archaeology and art history.
Between 2006 and 2008, the museum is in a process of extensive rebuilding and expansion, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. As a consequence some of the galleries have been closed, though most of the highlights are still on show. The rebuilding will result in five floors instead of three, with a doubling of the display space as well as new conservation studios and an education centre.
Collections
Highlights of the collection include:
- The Alfred Jewel
- Drawings by Michaelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci
- Watercolours and paintings by Turner
- Paintings by Paolo Uccello, Piero di Cosimo, John Constable, Claude Lorraine, and Pablo Picasso
- Arab ceremonial dress owned by Lawrence of Arabia
- A death mask of Oliver Cromwell
- The collection of Posie rings that supposedly inspired The One Ring in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
- The Parian Marble, the earliest extant example of a Greek chronological table
- The ceremonial cloak of Chief Powhatan
- The lantern Gunpowder Plot conspiracist Guy Fawkes carried in 1605
On 31 December 1999 (New Year's Eve), thieves used scaffolding on an adjoining building to climb onto the roof of the Ashmolean to break through a skylight, stealing a painting by Cézanne. As the thieves ignored other works in the same room and it has not been offered for sale it is speculated that this was a case of an artwork stolen to order.
Notable Keepers of the Ashmolean Museum
External links
1683 establishments | British archaeology | University of Oxford | Museums in Oxford | Archaeological organisations | Art museums and galleries in England | Archaeological organisations | Archaeology museums | University museums | Minoan civilization | History of Oxford
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