The present Ashmolean was created in 1908 by combining two ancient Oxford institutions: the University Art Collection and the original Ashmolean Museum. The older partner in this merger, the University Art Collection, was based for many years in what is now the Upper Reading Room in the Bodleian Library. The collection began modestly in the 1620s with a handful of portraits and curiosities displayed in a small room on the upper floor. In 1636 and 1657, Archbishop Laud and Ralph Freke added notable collections of coins and medals, later installed in a strong room of their own and now incorporated into the Ashmolean coin collection. The objects of curiosity included Guy Fawkes’ lantern and a sword said to have been given by the pope to Henry VIII, both now in the Ashmolean, as well as a number of more exotic items, including Jacob’s Coat of Many Colours, long since lost. However, as there was a museum for curiosities of this kind in the University Anatomy Theatre, objects like this tended to go there or to the Ashmolean, after it opened in 1683, leaving the Bodleian gallery to develop as a museum of art.

 

The Making of the Modern World floors bring the story up to date. The galleries explore the art, religion, geography and ecology of cultures from Europe to the Far East, tracing the intermingling of people and objects that has shaped the world we live in today. This world is represented on a floor devoted to galleries of 19th–21st-century art and major exhibitions. Beauty across continents. Two versions of ideal beauty are represented in these 18th-century images. Kitagawa’s Japanese woodblock (left) celebrates traditions associated with early autumn. Tiepolo’s Young Woman with a Macaw (right) belongs to a distinctively Venetian genre of fantasy portraits.

 

Check out the Shop’s new Tradescant range of red and white wine, claret and champagne, along with the delicious fruity damson and berry preserves. Or try the new Ashmolean clotted cream shortbread and ginger crunch biscuits and refreshing imperial mints.

 

 

 

 

Opening Times

 

 

Open: Tues - Sunday 10am - 6pm

Bank Holiday Monday 10am – 6pm