Ashmolean Museum

Ashmolean Museum

The full name of the Ashmolean Museum is the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. Located in the city of Oxford, England, it is widely recognized as the world’s first university museum and also the first public museum (Public Museum). Its original building was constructed between 1678 and 1683. The current museum building dates back to 1845 and was designed by Charles Cockerell, featuring an overall neoclassical style.

Judged from the perspective of museums being permanent non-profit institutions, the Ashmolean Museum, with a history of over three hundred years, has its own sustainable management principles. In terms of the relationship between collections and museums, the process through which the Ashmolean Museum museumized its collections via private donations helps us understand the concept behind the formation of Western museums in the 17th to 18th centuries. The museum’s main collections include antiquities, books, carved artworks, Eastern and Western art pieces, Heberden coins, sculptures, and ceramic artworks.

Between 2006 and 2009, the Ashmolean Museum underwent large-scale expansion and renovation. The museum building was expanded from three to five floors, doubling the exhibition space and adding a new education center. The museum reopened to the public on November 7, 2009.

Ashmolean Museum

Must-visit reason: The world’s earliest established university museum

Continent where the attraction is located: Europe【Europe】

Country/region where the attraction is located: Britain[Britain]

Province/state where the attraction is located: Oxfordshire [Oxfordshire]

City where the attraction is located: Oxford [Oxford]