The museum may be old but its world famous collection is anything but dusty and boring. It spans ten millennia and covers art and artifacts of eastern and western civilizations.
The Ashmolean is always free and time spent here is bound to be rewarding. Among the treasures:
- The Jericho Skull - A 10,000 year old representation of the human image, one of the earliest ever found.
- The Alfred Jewel - An ancient Anglo Saxon object of gold, enamel and rock crystal, that may have belonged to King Alfred the Great.
- Powhatan's Mantle - The deerskin and wampum cloak of Pocahontas's father.
- Drawings by Michelangelo and Raphael.
- 2000 years of ceramics
- A Stradivarius violin circa 1715.
Opening Hours
Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays, from 10a.m. to 6 p.m. The museum closes for the St. Giles Fair in September. It is always free.
Give yourself plenty of time at the Ashmolean before moving on.
- Turn left on leaving the museum and cross St. Giles Street to Balliol College.
- The monument on the traffic island to your right is The Martyr's Memorial, honoring two Protestant bishops burned at the stake in the 16th century.
- Turn right and continue along St. Giles
- Turn left into Broad Street. The entrance to Balliol is a short way along, on the left.
