Ashmolean Museum topped out
11 Mar 08
A key stage in the building process of the Ashmolean Museum’s extension was marked at a topping out ceremony on 10 February 2008.
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, Britain’s first public museum, is currently undergoing major redevelopment, which will see the opening of 39 new galleries, a new education centre and state-of-the-art conservation studios.
The topping-out ceremony marked the completion of the external frame of the new extension, which has been designed by Rick Mather Architects.
Located to the north of Charles Cockerell's neo-classical façade, the new extension will double the existing exhibition space, allowing thousands of objects previously in storage to be shown for the first time.
The new scheme will transform the Ashmolean, which first opened in 1683, into a twenty-first-century museum.
The Ashmolean’s curators have devised a redisplay of the Museum's collections for the new galleries, called Crossing Cultures Crossing Time. Exhibits will be organised along ideas and influences through centuries and across continents, from the Neolithic era to the present day. This will give visitors an understanding of how civilisations developed as part of an interrelated world culture, rather than in isolation.
The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded the scheme a grant of £15million. Additional support has been raised by the leading private donor, the Linbury Trust, along with numerous trusts, foundations and individuals, towards the total project cost of £61million.