Editing Ashmolean Museum (section)

==History==

===Broad Street===
The museum opened on 24 May 1683,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/sma/index.php/primary-documents/primary-documents-ashmolean-museum.html |title=Ashmolean Museum |publisher=[[Pitt Rivers Museum]] |language=en-gb |access-date=22 May 2018 }}</ref> with [[natural history|naturalist]] [[Robert Plot]] as the first keeper. The building on [[Broad Street, Oxford|Broad Street]] (later known as the [[Museum of the History of Science, Oxford|Old Ashmolean]]) is sometimes attributed to [[Christopher Wren|Sir Christopher Wren]] or Thomas Wood.<ref>{{cite journal|editor=Salter, H. E.|editor2=Lobel, Mary D. |title=Victoria County History |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63866 |journal=A History of the County of Oxford|volume= 3|date= 1954 |pages= 47–49}}</ref> [[Elias Ashmole]] had acquired the collection from the gardeners, travellers, and collectors [[John Tradescant the Elder]] and his son, [[John Tradescant the Younger]]. It included antique coins, books, engravings, geological specimens, and zoological specimens—one of which was the stuffed body of the last [[dodo]] ever seen in Europe; but by 1755 the stuffed dodo was so moth-eaten that it was destroyed, except for its head and one claw.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bryson |first1=Bill |title=A Short History of Nearly Everything |date=2003 |publisher=Broadway Books, Random House, Inc. |location=New York |isbn=0-7679-0818-X |page=470 |edition=1st |quote=In 1755, some seventy years after the last dodo's death, the director of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford decided that the institution's stuffed dodo was becoming unpleasantly musty and ordered it tossed on a bonfire. This was a surprising decision as it was by this time the only dodo in existence, stuffed or otherwise. A passing employee, aghast, tried to rescue the bird but could save only its head and part of one limb.}}</ref>

===Beaumont Street===

[[File:Ashmolean Museum and Taylorian Institute, Oxford; panoramic Wellcome V0014258.jpg|thumb|Wood-engraving of the Ashmolean {{Circa|1845}}]]

The present building dates from 1841 to 1845. It was designed as the University Galleries by [[Charles Robert Cockerell|Charles Cockerell]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Alden's Oxford Guide|location= Oxford|publisher= Alden & Company|date= 1946|page= 105}}</ref> in a [[Classicism|classical]] style and stands on Beaumont Street. One wing of the building is occupied by the [[Taylor Institution]], the modern languages faculty of the university, standing on the corner of Beaumont Street and St Giles' Street. This wing of the building was also designed by Charles Cockerell, using the [[Ionic order]] of Greek architecture.<ref>{{cite book|title=Alden's Oxford Guide|location= Oxford|publisher= Alden & Company|date= 1946|page= 103}}</ref>
 
[[Arthur Evans|Sir Arthur Evans]], who was appointed keeper in 1884 and retired in 1908, is largely responsible for the current museum.<ref>Evans, Joan. Time and Chance: The story of Arthur Evans and his forebears. London, Longmans, 1943.</ref> Evans found that the keeper and the vice-chancellor ([[Benjamin Jowett]]) had managed to lose half of the Ashmole collection and had converted the original building into the Examination Rooms. [[Charles Drury Edward Fortnum]] had offered to donate his personal collection of antiques on condition that the museum was put on a sound footing.<ref name="Brief History">{{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=Arthur |title=The Ashmolean Museum: A Brief History of the Museum and Its Collections |date=2001 |publisher=Ashmolean Museum Oxford |location=Oxford |page=56 }}</ref> A donation of £10,000 from Fortnum (£{{formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|10000|1894|r=-3}}|1}} as of {{CURRENTYEAR}}) enabled Evans to build an extension to the University Galleries and move the Ashmolean collection there in 1894. In 1908, the Ashmolean and the University Galleries were combined as the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology.<ref>[https://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwadminoxacuk/localsites/estatesservices/documents/conservation/Ashmolean_Museum.pdf "The Ashmolean Museum Oxford Conservation Plan"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200602071939/https://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwadminoxacuk/localsites/estatesservices/documents/conservation/Ashmolean_Museum.pdf |date=2 June 2020 }}. admin.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved on 24 August 2018.</ref> The museum became a depository for some of the important archaeological finds from Evans' excavations in Crete.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

After the various specimens had been moved into new museums, the "Old Ashmolean" building was used as office space for the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''. Since 1924, the building has been established as the [[Museum of the History of Science, Oxford|Museum of the History of Science]], with exhibitions including the scientific instruments given to Oxford University by [[Lewis Evans (collector)|Lewis Evans]], amongst them the world's largest collection of [[astrolabe]]s.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Johnston |first1=Stephen |title=Astrolabes in Medieval Jewish Society |url=http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/research/projects/jewish-astrolabes/ |website=The Warburg Institute |publisher=University of London, School of Advanced Study |access-date=5 November 2015 |quote=The Museum of the History of Science in Oxford has the world's largest collection of astrolabes. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128084038/http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/research/projects/jewish-astrolabes |archive-date=28 November 2015 }}</ref>

[[Charles Buller Heberden]] left £1,000 (£{{formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|1000|1921|r=-3}}|3}} as of {{CURRENTYEAR}}) to the university in 1921, which was used for the Coin Room at the museum.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kraay, C. M.|author2=Sutherland, C. H. V.|name-list-style=amp|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/documents/HCRhistory.pdf|title=The Heberden Coin Room: Origin and Development|publisher=Ashmolean Museum|location=Oxford|date=1972|edition=Revised 1989 and 2001|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061103114708/http://www.ashmolean.org/documents/HCRhistory.pdf|archive-date=3 November 2006}}</ref>

In 2012, the Ashmolean was awarded a grant of $1.1m by the [[Andrew W. Mellon Foundation]] to establish the [[Ashmolean Museum University Engagement Programme|University Engagement Programme]] or UEP. The programme employs three teaching curators and a programme director to develop the use of the museum's collections in the teaching and research of the university.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/news/?id=179|website= Ashmolean.org|title=News|access-date=8 October 2013}}</ref>

===Renovations===
[[File:Ashmolean Museum Atrium Oxford 2009.jpg|thumb|upright|The museum's renovated central atrium in 2009]]
The interior of the Ashmolean has been extensively modernised during the early 21st century and now includes a restaurant and large gift shop.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ashmolean.org/eating/ |title=Eating and Shopping- Ashmolean Museum |publisher=Ashmolean.org |date=15 April 2012 |access-date=20 June 2012 |archive-date=16 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516095009/http://www.ashmolean.org/eating/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2000, the Chinese Picture Gallery, designed by [[van Heyningen and Haward Architects]], opened at the entrance of the Ashmolean and is partly integrated into the structure. It was inserted into a lightwell in the Grade I listed building and was designed to support future construction from its roof. Apart from the original Cockerell spaces, this gallery was the only part of the museum retained in the rebuilding. The gallery houses the Ashmolean's own collection and is also used from time to time for the display of loan exhibitions and works by contemporary Chinese artists. It is the only museum gallery in Britain devoted to Chinese paintings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vhh.co.uk/projects/ash.htm |title=Chinese Painting Gallery, Ashmolean Museum – van Heyningen and Haward Architects |publisher=Vhh.co.uk |access-date=17 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527221055/http://www.vhh.co.uk/projects/ash.htm |archive-date=27 May 2014 }}</ref>

The [[Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library]] (formerly the [[Sackler Library]]), incorporating the older library collections of the Ashmolean, opened in 2001 and has allowed an expansion of the book collection, which concentrates on classical civilization, archaeology, and art history.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Park |first=Emma |title=Ashes to Ashmolean |url=http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/ashes-to-ashmolean/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100313130946/http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/ashes-to-ashmolean/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=13 March 2010 |work=Oxonian Review of Books |date=9 November 2009 |access-date=6 December 2009}}</ref>

Between 2006 and 2009, the museum was expanded to the designs of architect [[Rick Mather]] and the exhibition design company [[Metaphor (designers)|Metaphor]], supported by the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]]. The $98.2&nbsp;million<ref name="artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com">{{cite news|author=Vogel, Carol |date=20 June 2013| url= http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/director-of-ashmolean-museum-at-oxford-to-step-down/|title= Director of Ashmolean Museum at Oxford to Step Down|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> rebuilding resulted in five floors instead of three, with a doubling of the display space, as well as new conservation studios and an education centre.<ref>''The galleries are quirky and unpredictable, full of nooks and crannies and yet completely navigable even to the dyspraxically challenged, like me. That's as much to do with the layout by the exhibition designers Metaphor as with the architecture.'' {{Cite news|last=Dorment |first=Richard |title=The reopening of The Ashmolean, review |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/6487538/The-reopening-of-The-Ashmolean-review.html |work=Telegraph |date=2 November 2009 |access-date=2 November 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091105231033/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/6487538/The-reopening-of-The-Ashmolean-review.html| archive-date= 5 November 2009 | url-status= live | location=London}}</ref> The renovated museum re-opened on 7 November 2009.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Ashmolean Museum opens to public |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/8347299.stm |work=BBC News |date=7 November 2009 |access-date=8 November 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091108143936/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/8347299.stm| archive-date= 8 November 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ashmolean.org/transforming/2009/ |title=Transforming: Transformed- Ashmolean Museum |publisher=Ashmolean.org |access-date=20 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527213326/http://www.ashmolean.org/transforming/2009/ |archive-date=27 May 2014  }}</ref>

On 26 November 2011, the Ashmolean opened to the public the new galleries of [[Ancient Egypt]] and [[Nubia]]. This second phase of major redevelopment now allows the museum to exhibit objects that have been in storage for decades, more than doubling the number of coffins and mummies on display. The project received lead support from [[David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville|Lord Sainsbury's Linbury Trust]], along with the Selz Foundation, Mr. Christian Levett, as well as other trusts, foundations, and individuals. Rick Mather Architects led the redesign and display of the four previous Egypt galleries and the extension to the restored Ruskin Gallery, previously occupied by the museum shop.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ashmolean.org/transforming/egypt/ |title=Transforming: Egypt – Ashmolean Museum |publisher=Ashmolean.org |date=26 November 2011 |access-date=20 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018052320/http://www.ashmolean.org/transforming/egypt/ |archive-date=18 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In May 2016, the museum opened new galleries dedicated to the display of its collection of [[Victorian era|Victorian]] art.<ref name="News & Events">{{cite web|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/news/?id=375&s=Burges|title=News & Events}}</ref> This development allowed for the return to the Ashmolean of the [[Great Bookcase]], designed by [[William Burges]], and described as "the most important example of Victorian painted furniture ever made."<ref name="News & Events"/>