Chau Chak Wing Museum, University museum at University of Sydney, Australia
The Chau Chak Wing Museum is a five-story building on the University of Sydney campus in Camperdown. It houses six galleries displaying archaeological finds, natural history specimens, and artworks from different parts of the world.
The museum opened in 2020 when three older institutions were brought together: the Nicholson Museum, the Macleay Museum, and the university's art collection. Each of these collections dates back to the 19th century, making the new building a home for some of Sydney's oldest holdings.
The museum is named after the philanthropist Chau Chak Wing, who contributed a large part of the funding for the building. Inside, the galleries move between archaeological objects, natural history specimens, and artworks, so visitors encounter very different kinds of collections side by side.
The museum is free to enter and sits on a university campus that is easy to reach on foot or by public transport from central Sydney. If you plan to visit more than one gallery, allow extra time since the collection is spread across multiple floors.
The museum holds one of the oldest Egyptian collections in the southern hemisphere, including mummies that have been in Sydney since the 19th century. Many of these pieces came to Australia through private collectors long before museums of this kind existed in the country.
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