Ashmolean Museum Oxford (I)

Foto by Laura Lai. View from the underground floor

by Laura Lai/ Uncategorized

Last year on this time I was in the historical city of Oxford. And two hours a day for about two weeks – my first weeks ever in the United Kingdom – I was going to visit the Ashmolean Museum Oxford. Every afternoon I was leaving from Pembroke Street to St. Aldate’s, then to Cornmarket Street and further on Magdalen Street. Some other times I was finding my way to the museum, opened until 5 pm, from St. Ebbe’s Street to New Inn Hall to Gloucester Green Bus Station. And from there I could easily find my way to this resourceful museum, open to visitors free of charge.

            I cannot introduce the Ashmolean Museum better than it introduces itself: ‘The Ashmolean is the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archeology, founded in 1683. Our world-famous collections range from Egyptian mummies to modern art, telling human stories across cultures and across time.’

Being founded in 1683 explains why it is quite a challenge to review it. In comparison to the Oxford University Press Museum that I reviewed for this blog earlier this year (to read the review, click here), which is a several centuries printing journey and a reviewing challenge in itself, the Ashmolean Museum is a world journey from the Ancient world to present.

            In short, at the ground floor the visitors travel back to the Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Ancient Cyprus, to China, India, and it learns with some technology support about the life and death in Ancient Egypt. I would suggest starting from the underground floor, in order to read about the founder, Elias Ashmole (1617-1692), to visit the impressive collection of coins, textiles, and in order to learn about the history of reading and writing.

            At the second floor there is an artistic crossroads of the Mediterranean world with the Islamic one, the Indian one, as well as artifacts from Japan, China (tapestry), Europe (ceramics), Italian Renaissance, British, German and Flemish art.

            The third floor exhibits European art from the 1800 to present day. The visitor can admire works of Camille Pissarro and world-famous impressionists, from Walter Richard Sickert, ceramics by William de Morgan.