Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology

The Ashmolean was established in 1683 by Elias Ashmole, who firmly believed that "the knowledge of nature is very necessary to human life and health." Britain's first public museum was born from Elias Ashmole's personal collection, and after a series of transformations to the collection, including the addition of archaeological artifacts and research capacities, the institution became the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in 1908.

Today, the museum's collection is distributed across five curatorial departments: antiquities, casts, coins, Eastern art, and Western art. The Ashmolean houses the largest collection of Chinese greenware outside China and one of the finest collections of modern Chinese art in Europe. As part of the University of Oxford, the Ashmolean Museum facilitates academic engagement through its educational programming and research. Through such programming and research, both Oxford students and the communities beyond the university gain access to a wealth of resourcing that traces global human cultures across history.