Ashmolean Museum

Ashmolean Museum

Front façade of the museum
Location in Oxford
Interactive fullscreen map
Established	1683; 341 years ago (1683)
Location	Beaumont Street, Oxford, England
Coordinates	51°45′19″N 1°15′36″W / 51.7554°N 1.2600°W / 51.7554; -1.2600
Type	University Museum of Art and Archaeology
Visitors	930,669 (2019)[1]
Director	Alexander Sturgis
Website	www.ashmolean.org

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology (/æʃˈmoʊliən, ˌæʃməˈliːən/)^[2] on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum.^[3] Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of Oxford in 1677. It is also the world's second university museum, after the establishment of the Kunstmuseum Basel in 1661 by the University of Basel.^[4]

The present building was built between 1841 and 1845. The museum reopened in 2009 after a major redevelopment, and in November 2011, new galleries focusing on Egypt and Nubia were unveiled. In May 2016, the museum also opened redisplayed galleries of 19th-century art.