Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology (/æʃˈmliən, ˌæʃməˈlən/) on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of Oxford in 1677. It is also the world's second university museum, after the establishment of the Kunstmuseum Basel in 1661 by the University of Basel.

Ashmolean Museum
Front façade of the museum
Location in Oxford
Interactive fullscreen map
Established1683 (1683)
LocationBeaumont Street, Oxford, England
Coordinates51.7554°N 1.2600°W / 51.7554; -1.2600
TypeUniversity Museum of Art and Archaeology
Visitors930,669 (2019)
DirectorAlexander Sturgis
Websitewww.ashmolean.org

The present building was built between 1841 and 1845. The museum reopened in 2009 after a major redevelopment, and in November 2011, new galleries focusing on Egypt and Nubia were unveiled. In May 2016, the museum also opened redisplayed galleries of 19th-century art.

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