Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum (in full the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology) on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum. Its first building was built in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities Elias Ashmole gave Oxford University in 1677.

History

The collection include that of Elias Ashmole, which he had collected himself as well as works he had acquired from the gardeners, travellers and collectors John Tradescant the elder and his son of the same name. The collection included antique coins, books, engravings, geological specimens, and zoological specimens—one of which was the stuffed body of the last Dodo ever seen in Europe, but by 1755 it was so moth-eaten it was destroyed, except for its head and one claw. The museum opened on 24 May 1683, with naturalist Robert Plot as the first keeper. The first building, which became known as the Old Ashmolean, is sometimes attributed to Sir Christopher Wren or Thomas Wood.^[1]

After the various specimens had been moved into new museums, the "Old Ashmolean" building on Broad Street was used as office space for the Oxford English Dictionary staff. Since 1924, the building has been established as the Museum of the History of Science, with exhibitions including the scientific instruments given to Oxford University by Lewis Evans (1853–1930), amongst them the world's largest collection of astrolabes.

The present building dates from 1845. It was designed by Charles Cockerell in a classical style and stands on Beaumont Street. One wing of the building is occupied by the Taylor Institution, the modern languages faculty of the university. The main museum contains huge collections of archaeology specimens and fine art. It has one of the best collections of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, majolica pottery and English silver. The archaeology department includes the bequest of Arthur Evans and so has an excellent collection of Greek and Minoan pottery. The department also has an extensive collection of antiquities from Ancient Egypt and the Sudan, and the museum hosts the Griffith Institute for the advancement of Egyptology.

Theft

On 31 December 1999 (New Year's Eve), thieves used scaffolding on an adjoining building to climb onto the roof of the Ashmolean to break through a skylight, stealing a painting by Cézanne. As the thieves ignored other works in the same room and it has not been offered for sale, it is speculated that this was a case of an artwork stolen to order.^[2][3]

Renovation

The interior of the Ashmolean has been extensively modernised in recent years and now includes a restaurant and large gift shop.^[4] The Sackler Library, incorporating the older library collections of the Ashmolean, opened in 2001 and has allowed an expansion of the book collection, which concentrates on classical civilization, archaeology and art history.

Between 2006 and 2009, the museum was extensively rebuilt and expanded to the designs of architect Rick Mather and the exhibition design company Metaphor, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The rebuilding resulted in five floors instead of three, with a doubling of the display space as well as new conservation studios and an education centre.^[5] The renovated museum re-opened on 7 November 2009.^[6]

Collections

Highlights of the Ashmolean's collection include:

• A substantial number of Oxyrhynchus Papyri, including Old and New Testament biblical manuscripts
• The Alfred Jewel
• Drawings by Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci
• Watercolours and paintings by Turner
• Paintings by Paolo Uccello, Piero di Cosimo, John Constable, Claude Lorraine, and Pablo Picasso
• Arab ceremonial dress owned by Lawrence of Arabia
• A death mask of Oliver Cromwell
• The collection of Posie rings that supposedly inspired the One Ring in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
• The Parian Marble, the earliest extant example of a Greek chronological table
• The Metrological Relief, showing Ancient Greek measurements
• The ceremonial cloak of Chief Powhatan
• The lantern that Gunpowder Plot conspiracist Guy Fawkes carried in 1605
• The Messiah Stradivarius, a violin made by Antonio Stradivari
• The Minoan collection of Arthur Evans, the biggest outside Crete
• The Narmer Macehead and Scorpion Macehead
• The Kish tablet
• The Abingdon Sword, an Anglo-Saxon sword found at Abingdon south of Oxford

Keepers and Directors

Beginning in 1973, the position of Keeper was superseded by that of Director:

• D. T. (later Sir David) Piper (1973–1985)
• Professor Sir Christopher White (1985–1997)
• Dr P.R.S. Moorey (Acting Director) (1997–1998)
• Dr Christopher Brown (1998 – )^[8]

In popular culture

• The Alfred Jewel was the inspiration for the Inspector Morse episode "The Wolvercote Tongue", in which the museum's interior was used as a set.^[9] The Ashmolean also figures prominently in several episodes of the successor series Lewis, particularly the episode "Point of Vanishing" where the painting The Hunt in the Forest is a key plot element and the characters visit the painting at the museum and are instructed on its features by an art expert before solving the case.

• The musical Where's Charley?, written by Frank Loesser based on the play Charley's Aunt, includes a song called "The New Ashmolean Marching Society and Students' Conservatory Band".

Notes

External links

• Ashmolean Museum website
• Ashmolean Museum on Facebook
• Ashmolean Museum on Twitter
• Sackler Library
• The Griffith Institute
• Virtual Tour of the Ashmolean Museum, photography from 2003
• Powhatan's Mantle—pictures, description & history
• Works by or about the Ashmolean Museum in libraries (WorldCat catalog)