Exhibitions at the University of Oxford

Established in 1683, the Ashmolean Museum is the oldest museum in the UK and one of the oldest in the world. It houses the University’s extensive collections of art and antiquities, ranging back over four millennia.

The Bate Collection of Musical Instruments celebrates the history and development of the musical instruments of the Western Classical tradition, from the medieval period to present day.

The Bodleian Library, the University’s main research library, is the second largest in the UK after the British Library. It has 120 miles of occupied shelving, 29 reading rooms and 2,490 places for readers.

The Museum of the History of Science is housed in the world’s oldest surviving purpose-built museum building. It contains the world’s finest collection of historic scientific instruments.

The Pitt Rivers Museum holds one of the world’s finest collections of anthropology and archaeology, with objects from every continent and from throughout human history.

The University Museum of Natural History houses the University's collections of zoological, entomological, palaeontological and mineral specimens. With 4.5 million specimens it is the largest collection of its type outside of the national collections.

Christ Church Picture Gallery houses an important collection of 300 Old Master paintings and almost 2,000 drawings in a purpose-built gallery of considerable architectural interest.