Oxford Travel

Ashmolean

Ashmolean is University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology, founded in 1683. Is free to visit and is worth visiting it.

Ashmolean. Outside

If you want to see more about their special exhibitions and details about the museum, you can check the website.

Display at Ashmolean

The museum hosts many fascinating artefacts and I picked a few to show in this post.

Display at Ashmolean

On the right is a 3D construction made using CT scans of the mummy on the left. It is made with ink drawing on 111 sheets of glass. It was a 3 year old boy and seeing him like this made an impact, it seems more real than the mummy. It is a wonderful display.

Statues at Ashmolean

These are two statues of Emperor Augustus, from around 20 BCE. The statues would have been painted and this is recreated in the second statue. It looks so different and it is intriguing to see it as it would have looked 2,000+ years ago. Augustus’ statue was discovered in 1863 and, at that time, it retained a few of the colours it would have been painted with. For the reconstruction the original pigments were recreated.

Cape at Ashmolean

This is Powhatan’s Mantle, from 1656. It is an artefact from the first contact between Indigenous Americans and the English Colonists of Virginia in early 1600s. Powhatan was the father of Pocahontas (Matoaka), a woman who married an English settler. She visited England in 1616-1617.

Stairs

China on display in Ashmolean

The china display at the Ashmolean needs a dedicated post on its own.

Henry VII's rug at Ashmolean

This is the Funeral pall used at Henry VII’s memorial service at Oxford. I was very excited to see this as I’m now studying the Tudors.

Ring

This is another artefact I was very excited to see. Is called the Alfred Jewel and it is engraved with “Alfred ordered me to be made”, after Alfred the Great, the most important Anglo-Saxon king. I’ve read about this ring in a book about the English Kings.
The ring was discovered in 1693 by a labourer digging for peat in Somerset, near Athelney, where in 878 King Alfred the Great was taking refuge from the Vikings. The owner of Newton Park, Sir Thoma Wrothe, gave it to his uncle, Nathaniel Palmer, a former member of Trinity College, Oxford. In 1718 the ring was donated to the Ashmolean by his son, Thomas.

Paintings on display at the Ashmolean

Statue of Christopher Wren

I will finish my highlights with the statue of Christopher Wren.

Coffee at Ashmolean

We’ve decided to go to the Rooftop Restaurant after visiting the museum. We didn’t order any food and I have to say that the waiters were not very polite. They were coming to our table to remove the glasses, after a couple of minutes to get the cutlery and so on, obviously annoyed that we didn’t order food too. It was quite rude from them, especially as we didn’t order food for a very good reason, none of the dishes in their lunch menu was marked as vegetarian! Some of them looked like they might be, but pesto can be vegetarian or not, so unless I see the “V” marked on the menu, I wouldn’t order it. I was surprised to see the lack of options, considering how well the University caters for vegans and vegetarians. Needless to say that I’m not going back to the Rooftop Restaurant, but I will visit the museum again, of course.

Ashmolean is on Beaumont St, Oxford, OX1 2PH.

4 Comment

  1. I’ve been to the Ashmolean a couple times and loved it! However I never saw the statue of Augustus and its reconstitution – I am bummed, because I would have LOVED to see this with my own eyes. I love Roman art history, so thank you for sharing this shot!

    Julia x

  2. I love the Asmolean, such a fantastic collection. Have never been to their Rooftop restaurant, but the café downstairs used to be pretty good. Shame about your unpleasant experience.

  3. If I walked into the china room, I never would have left. Glorious. When we were in Oxford, my ruptured tendon was by then so bad I knew I couldn’t handle a museum. This is the one we would have gone to — and now it’s on the next time list.

  4. Fabulous! Considering I spent an entire summer in Oxford, I can’t believe I never went in the Ashmolean (that I can remember). Shame on me! (I blame it on youth and immaturity)

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