Ashmolean Museum – Oxford, England

If museums are your scene, a visit to the Ashmolean Museum is a must. Outside of London, Ashmolean is considered to be one of the best of British museums.

Opened in 1683, the museum originally housed the collections of John Tradescants senior and junior. During their travels to the Orient and the Americas, they collected curious stuffed animals and artifacts. After their death, the collection was acquired by the antiquarian, Elias Ashmole. Ashmole donated the collection to the university and also had a purpose-built building constructed for the exhibits on Broad Street, now called the Old Ashmolean.

Well, stuffed animals and artifacts alone would not draw the crowds these days and the Ashmolean’s famous exhibits nowadays include famous paintings and drawings of the grandmasters like Bellini, Raphael, Rembrandt, Michaelangelo, etc. There are also Greek and Roman carvings, Eastern arts, musical instruments, etc.

The Ashmolean is a university museum and the exhibits are owned by a department of the university. So where does the Museum get its funding from. Interestingly, the National Lottery. The National Lottery raises money for a range of causes for the benefit of communities across the United Kingdom. From every pound spent on lottery tickets, 28p goes directly to good causes allocated between the following categories: arts, charities, health, education and the environment, heritage and sports. So when you’re next in Oxford, you may consider buying a lottery ticket and who knows you might just get lucky!

Helen