We’re 338 years old today! On 24 May 1683, the doors of the Ashmolean Museum were officially opened to the public.
The Ashmolean came into existence when the wealthy antiquary Elias Ashmole gifted his collection to the University in 1682. He did so ‘because the knowledge of Nature is very necessary to human life and health.’ It opened as Britain’s first public museum, and the world’s first university museum.
Below is a print of the museum by Emery Walker from 1909. However, this wasn’t actually the original location of the museum. The first site of the Ashmolean was on Broad Street, where the Museum of the History of Science is now.
Celebrate with us today - what are some of your favourite Ashmolean memories? Let us know in the comments below.
Happy #WorldTurtleDay! Here are a few turtles from our collections.
The first turtle made of wood is an inrō - a traditional Japanese case for holding small objects that was suspended from a sash worn around the waist. Traditional Japanese robes did not have pockets, so objects were often carried this way in a variety of different vessels. The inrō was particularly suitable for carrying anything small; this object measures only 11 x 71 centimetres.
Also below is a blue figure of a tortoise from 8th century China, and a terracotta vessel in the form of a turtle from late 3rd century-early 2nd century BC North India.
MUSEUM SECRETS: Toad Vaccines and Magical Jewellery
In today’s episode of our Museum Secrets podcast, join Curator Matthew Winterbottom as he explores ancient beliefs about disease testing and vaccines, through our collection of toadstone rings.
These bizarre pieces of jewellery have a lot to tell us about the human effort to find hope in the face of illness and uncertainty, even when it involves the strangest superstitions. And at the end of the day, it turns out that toadstones have nothing to do with toads after all…
Sometimes we find things in our collections that we simply *must* share with you immediately. This bowl from, featuring some little fish amongst waterweeds, is one of those things.
Made from porcelain with blue underglazing, this bowl comes from the Yongzheng Period of the Qing Dynasty in China, c. 1723–1735.
“The stories of the ancient Middle East have generally been told through Western voices. Who you don’t hear are the voices of local people.”
Owning the Past (ملكية من بلاد الرافدين الى العراق ) is a dual language exhibition highlighting the long-lasting impact of the past on the present. It explores how the borders of the state of Iraq were established following the First World War when British control of the region included a fascination with its ancient past - one that led to a colonisation of Mesopotamian antiquity as much as the living communities. It questions what is meant by heritage and introduces voices and stories of people not previously visible in displays devoted to the very histories and heritage of their homelands.
In this film, we hear from some of those involved in the creation of the exhibition: Community Ambassadors Nuha Abdo and Mustafa Barcho; Community Engagement Officer Nicola Bird; Exhibition co-curators Paul Collins and Myfanwy Lloyd; and Artist Piers Secunda.
We are very happy to announce that the Ashmolean is now open!
Whether you want to visit your favourite objects in the galleries, explore a new exhibition or display, browse the shop or enjoy Afternoon Tea on the rooftop, we can’t wait to welcome you back.
To help keep everyone safe all visitors, including Members, need to book timed tickets in advance. Find out more and book today: ashmolean.org/plan-your-visit
British poet, illustrator and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti was born on this day in 1828. Rossetti, who is one of the stars of our upcoming exhibition, was a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood alongside William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais.
Rossetti’s romantic medievalism inspired a second generation of Pre-Raphaelite painters, most notably William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. Alongside his art, he was also known to write sonnets to accompany his pictures, and create art to illustrate the poems and literature that inspired him.
Rossetti’s personal life was closely linked to his work, in particular his relationship with his model and muse Jane Morris pictured in two of these portraits from our collection.
You can learn more about their relationship, see these works and much more in ‘Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings & Watercolours’, opening 18 May. Book your tickets today
Hans Coper was one of the 20th century’s great potters and artists. Our ongoing display celebrates his centenary by uniting items from our collection, more than 30 loans from private collectors and several seldom-seen, often intimate photographs of Coper at work.
Visit for FREE until 26 September, but don’t forget that a General Entry ticket is required.
Have you seen our new Anglo Saxons home learning pack yet? ✏️
Travel back in time to Anglo Saxon England with a short video from our Learning team, try your hand at a quiz and have a go at two jigsaw puzzles. You can also learn how to make your own Anglo Saxon brooch in our short craft activity video.
These coins are from the Crondall Hoard, which was buried before AD 650 and includes the earliest-known Anglo Saxon coins. The hoard was found in Hampshire in 1828 and came into our collections in 1944.
Happy #WorldTurtleDay! Here are a few turtles from our collections.
The first turtle made of wood is an inrō - a traditional Japanese case for holding small objects that was suspended from a sash worn around the waist. Traditional Japanese robes did not have pockets, so objects were often carried this way in a variety of different vessels. The inrō was particularly suitable for carrying anything small; this object measures only 11 x 71 centimetres.
Also below is a blue figure of a tortoise from 8th century China, and a terracotta vessel in the form of a turtle from late 3rd century-early 2nd century BC North India.
Robert Plot was born in December 1640 and baptized on 13 December, which many have quite reasonably taken to be his birthday. Plot lived a remarkable life, becoming first Keeper of the Ashmolean, Oxford’s first professor of Chemistry and the secretary of the Royal Society, and happily taking on the appellation of “the learned Dr Plot.”
His book The Natural History of Oxford-shire of 1676, addressed to King Charles II, is almost as impressive as its author. Amongst its many noteworthy passages is the first known description of a dinosaur bone, though Plot did not know what exactly he was detailing.
Come we next to such as concern the Members of the Body: Amongst which, I have one dug out of a quarry in the Parish of Cornwell, and given me by the ingenious Sir Thomas Pennyston, that has exactly the Figure of the lowermost part of the Thigh-Bone of a Man or at least of some other Animal…
Not sure where the bone might have originated, Plot spends several pages recounting the various anecdotes of giants that he has heard or read, and also tries to reason out how an elephant bone might have ended up buried in Cornwall.
Sadly, the specimen is now lost but from the engraving that has survived, paleontologists have subsequently deduced that Plot was describing the fossilised femur of a Megalosaurus.
