About The Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is a world-renowned museum of art and archaeology, and it is one of the top cultural attractions in the city. It was founded in 1683, making it the oldest public museum in the UK, and it has an extensive collection of art and artefacts from across the world, spanning from ancient to modern times.
The museum is spread across five floors, and the exhibits are grouped by period and theme, making it easy to navigate and explore. The collections include objects from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Near East, as well as European paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts. The museum also has an impressive collection of Asian art, including Chinese ceramics, Japanese prints, and Indian textiles.
Among many riches, it has the world’s greatest collection of Raphael drawings and works by other Renaissance artists, such as Botticell and Titian, the only great Minoan collection in Britain, and the foremost collection of modern Chinese paintings in the Western world. The museum also has an extensive collection of contemporary art, including works by modern masters like Pablo Picasso.
In addition to its permanent collections, the Ashmolean Museum hosts a variety of temporary exhibitions throughout the year, showcasing works from other museums and private collections around the world. The museum also offers a range of educational programs, including lectures, tours, and workshops, for people of all ages.
Visitors to the Ashmolean Museum can easily spend several hours exploring the exhibits and taking in the wealth of art and artefacts on display. The museum has a cafe and restaurant with a rooftop terrace that offers panoramic views of the city, making it an ideal destination for a day out in Oxford.
The Ashmolean is Oxford University’s museum of art and archaeology and is one of the four University museums (along with the Museum of the History of Science, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum. Together with the Bodleian Libraries and Botanic Gardens and Harcourt Arboretum, they form the Oxford University’s Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) group.
