Ashmolean Museum, Art museum at Beaumont Street, Oxford, United Kingdom
The Ashmolean Museum is an art museum on Beaumont Street in Oxford, United Kingdom, displaying more than two hundred thousand objects across several floors. Collections range from ancient civilizations to contemporary art and are housed in themed galleries presenting sculptures, paintings, archaeological finds, and decorative arts from different periods.
The museum opened in 1683 as Britain's first public museum, beginning with the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole donated to Oxford University. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, numerous donations and acquisitions expanded the holdings significantly, requiring several renovations and extensions to the building.
The museum is named after Elias Ashmole, who gave his cabinet of curiosities to the University of Oxford in 1677. Its founding collection came from the Tradescants, father and son, and included the stuffed body of the last dodo seen in Europe, destroyed by moths by 1755 except for its head and one claw. The Greek and Minoan pottery and Arthur Evans's Cretan finds reflect the museum's archaeological roots.
The museum opens from Tuesday to Sunday between ten and five, with late hours until eight on the last Friday of each month. All floors are accessible by lift, and toilets and seating areas are available on every level.
The museum's collection began with the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to Oxford in 1677, including the stuffed body of the last dodo seen in Europe. By 1755 only its head and one claw survived, and these are still kept at the museum.
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