Oxford’s university museums together constitute the greatest concentration of university museums in the world, providing unparalleled possibilities for research and teaching and attracting around two million visitors annually.
Whether or not the museums' collections cover your chosen area
of study, your time in Oxford will be enhanced by the opportunity to
visit these world-class collections free of charge and to engage in the wider intellectual community of exhibitions, events and lectures centered around them.
The Ashmolean Museum (
AshmoleanMuseum) is often regarded as the greatest
university museum in the world. It is the oldest public museum in the UK, established in 1683, and its collections of art and archaeology span four
millennia – from the civilisations of Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome to
Renaissance Europe, to the present day. These world-class
collections contribute hugely to the study of the cultures and
civilisations from which they originate.
In 2009, the Ashmolean was
reopened by Her Majesty. The Queen following a £61 million redevelopment
comprising 39 new galleries, including 4 temporary exhibition
galleries, an education centre, state-of-the-art conservation studios,
and Oxford’s first roof-top restaurant. In 2011, the museum opened six new galleries housing the Ancient Egypt and Nubia collections.
The galleries of the Pitt Rivers Museum ( Pitt_Rivers) house a hundred thousand
artefacts from all corners of the world and all periods in human
history. The displays are celebrated for their period atmosphere and
unique arrangement, and the Museum is famous for its leading role in
research and curatorship.
The spectacular neo-Gothic architecture of this Grade I listed building
houses the University’s zoological, entomological and geological
specimens in the Museum of Natural History. Among its famous features are a dodo, the first dinosaur to
be scientifically described, and the swifts in the tower.
The University's Museum of the History of Science is the world’s oldest purpose-built museum building and houses an unrivalled
collection of 25,000 scientific instruments, from antiquity to the 21st
century, especially astrolabes, sundials, quadrants, mathematical and
optical instruments, and apparatus associated with chemistry, natural
philosophy and medicine.
The Botanic Garden ( OBGHA) acts as a reference collection of 5,000 types of
plant: it is the most compact yet diverse collection of plants in the
world, and the oldest such garden in Britain. Plants grown here support
teaching and research, in the University and elsewhere, and the Global
Strategy for Plant Conservation. Situated by the river, it is a
beautiful place for members of the University and the public to explore
and enjoy.
