Ashmolean Museum
About
The University of Oxford's museum of art and archaeology on Beaumont Street, founded in 1683 and generally described as the oldest public museum in Britain. Entry is free, every day, 10am to 5pm, and the collection runs from Egyptian mummies and Minoan finds through Renaissance and Pre-Raphaelite painting to modern art, across five floors behind a neoclassical portico. It is the obvious first stop on a wet day and rewards repeat visits; special exhibitions are ticketed separately, and a rooftop restaurant sits above the galleries. Some galleries close for maintenance in rotation, so check the museum's site if a specific collection is the point of your visit.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓Free entry to a genuinely world-class collection
- ✓Egyptian mummies, the Alfred Jewel's era of Anglo-Saxon finds, Renaissance and Pre-Raphaelite painting
- ✓Ticketed special exhibitions
- ✓Rooftop restaurant above the galleries
Tips
- →Open daily 10am to 5pm, last entry 4:45pm; no ticket needed for the main collection.
- →Check the site before visiting for a specific gallery; sections close in rotation for maintenance.
- →Pair it with the Randolph's Morse Bar over the road if the weather is foul.
Best Season
More Attraction Activities
Christ Church
Oxford's grandest college: Tom Tower, the Tudor Great Hall and a chapel that is also a cathedral. Book online; closures happen around services and events.
Bodleian Library & Radcliffe Square
Radcliffe Square is Oxford's best free sight; the Divinity School and Bodleian tours get you inside. Peak-season tours sell out by midday, book ahead.
Museum of Natural History & Pitt Rivers Museum
Two free museums in one building on Parks Road: dinosaurs and the dodo under a Victorian glass court, then the Pitt Rivers' floor-to-ceiling anthropology cases.