Ashmolean Museum

Awesome museum in Oxford. We came in just to see what collections they contained, and there was a vast assortment very neatly arranged. The egyptian features were an unexpected surprise with actual mummies. My highlight was the art piece which involved hundreds of glass slides with digital scans of the mummy.
The rest was very extensive and covers a very large timescale. You can spend hours here if you are interested in historical cultural artefacts.
The café upstairs was pricey but very high quality. It didn’t ruin the whole experience but it isn’t required to complete the day.

Partiendo de la base de que cualquier museo gratuito ya se debería merecer, al menos, las tres estrellas, ya que te están ofreciendo contenido cultural a cambio de nada, debo reconocer que el Ashmolean está algo sobrevalorado para mi gusto.
Además, no te dejan hacer fotografías en ningún lugar del museo, cuando ya en la mayoría de museos importantes te dejan fotografiar cualquier cosa excepto los cuadros con flash (si las haces sin flash normalmente también te dejan). En el Ashmolean es de los pocos lugares donde a mi me han llamado la atención por esto.
Como cinéfilo que soy mi pieza favorita es la linterna que Guy Fawkes llevaba encima cuando lo apresaron en los sótanos del Parlamento el 5 de Noviembre de 1605 cuando estaba a punto de volarlo todo con pólvora. Fue acusado de traición, ahorcado y descuartizado (las partes de su cuerpo fueron repartidas por las cuatro esquinas del reino como advertencia). Desde entonces se celebra con hogueras la Noche de Guy Fawkes cada 5 de Noviembre en el Reino Unido. Recuerden, recuerden, el 5 de Noviembre…

The world’s oldest museum, and it’s free to roam around its five floors of art and history. When we were there, a separate fee purchased access to the Tutankhamen exhibit.
My highlight was the corner that explained how the Romans were influenced by the Egyptians in their funeral arts, just an obvious overlap that I had never considered.
Autumn Sunday, and the museum was quiet.
An aggressive museum usher was convinced my small backpack was the bull in her china shop, but seemed satisfied to have me carry it like I was with child. Whatever makes us all a little happier.
The bottom floor was reserved for more child-​friendly art.
You can cruise through the Ashmolean offerings in about an hour or two.

My main reason for visiting the Ashmolean was to see the Alfred Jewel, as well as this lovely little jewel there’s lots of other interesting things on display and you can easily lose an afternoon wandering around! The museum is large and quite bright although it does get very busy, but still well worth a visit though.

Loved this museum. Extremely interesting and you could easily spend a whole day there! The exhibits were on par with those of larger and more well-​known museums and there was so much to see!
My favourite area was the Chinese section and other Far-​East displays. Would definitely recommend for a day out in Oxford.
April 2014 — Group of 2

A good museum is the Ashmolean but, for me, not a great one. The building is beautiful and admission is free (temporary exhibits excluded) not to mention room after room of artefacts but all in all I didn’t love the Ashmolean. There are numerous galleries (to numerous to list them all) from ancient Egypt to modern art. Many display an impressive hoard whereas some, I felt, are a little lacking in substance — most notably the musical instruments gallery. It may as well have been called the Viola gallery. There were some very nice Viola’s on display (and a couple of Harpsichords) but little else. Most galleries, however, are more varied and extensive.
The café was fine, not outstanding but certainly not bad although the staff were a little slow.
Perhaps having grown up in London I’ve been a little spoiled for museums. The Ashmolean, in turn, reminded me a little of the Horniman museum near Dulwich only slightly bigger but without the gardens and rather much like a scaled-​down version of the Victoria & Albert in Kensington.
But never-​the-​less the Ashmolean is a fine museum with an historical and eclectic range within and certainly worth a visit if you happen to have the time (and you’re in Oxford).
TTFN,
Ian

Didn’t have long to visit this museum but my first impression is must retun! I did not exspect to find such a place in Oxford, having only been to the big museums in London.

Great terrace restaurant on roof (especially the warm sunny day I was there) but service is incredibly slow. Don’t visit if you’re in a hurry.

Full disclosure, I’ve only ever been to this museum during their Friday night open evenings (which happen once a month). Definitely worth checking out on these special nights because there’s usually plenty of entertainment that enhances the experience of the exhibits. When I went, they even had a fun scavenger hunt through the museum. One of my favorite evenings in Oxford.

The oldest public museum in UK. I went to see the Chinese exhibition and the archeology, since I was in Oxford; this place has so much history that it’s an art work by itself! And I guess that’s what I like the most honestly.
I’m not an architect or archeologist but, curious about places like this one around the world and I was lucky enough to meet three archeology students that practically tutor me around.
I’m planning to go back to Ashmolean to observe The Gold Coinage of Britain in any spare time and enjoy the cafès in my next trip:)

Marvellous
I just cannot get enough of Museums. Culture and history are a bottomless hole of happiness and contentment for this old atheist. The creativity of humans always gives me pleasure and these churches of human creative endeavour make life worth while.
It’s an excellent environment too. The layout and displays enhance and draw you round this eclectic mix of world history.
It’s free for all and that just makes me even happier.

Free admission, but with an extensive globalartifacts, and time periods. Perhaps one the oldest museums I’ve been to since the it originated back in the 15^th century.
First time I’ve seen cast of human-​like skulls dating back over a million years ago. If you go through everything it would take at least a couple of hours.

This is a very eclectic museum. Not only in region (Japan, China, Greek, Flemish, English, Italian, Roman, Indian, Egyptian and more), but in period (like Egypt/​India/​Buddah long-​time-​ago-​BC to art created 4 years ago), and exhibit types (Renaissance paintings, Japanese kabuki etchings, archeological artifacts, unburied historical items like swords).
All seemingly random, to be honest. Yet not, in that it is all really interesting and cool! Plus, like most museums in the UK, it is free! If you are in Oxford, I would certainly make some time to visit the Ashmolean. Even if you live there! When was the last time you bothered to go? See? Tsk tsk, you uncultured feind!

#471 I’m sure what I experienced today was not your typical Ashmolean Museum experience, so just know that I WILL be returning for a do-​over. However, walking in today, I was completely turned off the employees/​volunteers. First of all, the guy standing at the front next to the donation boxes just silently glared at everybody walking in. That’s right, instead of the expected «Hello! How are you today?», he simply glared, as if that alone would get us to donate the 3gbp they were asking for.
Next off, as I was trying my best to tune them out, the same employee joined the female employee in the front gallery and they spent the entire 20 minutes I was in there gratuitously flirting with each other! Her high-​pitched little squeals of laughter echoed all the way down the hallway and I was so ready to chuck something at her head. But, I held back and moved onto the next room.
As I walked back to the main hallway, heading towards the back of the ground floor, an employee just HAD to choose then to turn on the vacuum cleaner. Of course, he then spent the next 15 minutes cleaning the main hallway, so the sounds echoed all throughout the place. It was so loud I couldn’t even hear myself think. Eventually, I just gave up and decided to try it again on another day. To be sure, my experience says nothing about the actual quality of the pieces on display at the Ashmolean. Indeed, many of them were impressive and awe-​inspiring. So, expect an update from me soon!

Wow!
That’s it in one word, what an amazing place!
Came here years ago, before the make-​over. It was dark and dusty.
Now it’s all glass and light and great displays of some of the most interesting things in the world. They have a printed guide that was quite helpful. The collection is amazing, as in wow!
Come see and enjoy!

This museum is great for the town of Oxford. A huge plus is that it is free. It had some great exhibits some of which were the same as the British Museum in London. I really enjoyed the Chinese scroll paintings and the exhibit on the Cultural Revolution. There were some exhibits that left me wanting me more such as the Russian Art exhibit.
The layout of the museum is confusing. There were many rooms and I couldn’t seem to figure out how to get to the next floor level. We skipped the restaurant on the top floor and took a break in the café. Lovely assortment of pastries and selection of teas.
If you have some time, grab a map and select a few areas that you want to concentrate on. There’s a lot to see.

This is the most boring place on earth, unless you love ceramics.
It recently had a major and very expensive overhaul, and the building itself is lovely, it is just the boring rubbish that they have crammed in there which annoys me. Floor after floor of pots, ceramics, beads… zzzzzzzzzzzz

Really superb museum with free entry. There was something to interest everyone from ancient archeological finds to rare musical instruments to fantastic displays of fine china. Can thoroughly recommend it as a great venue for a rainy afternoon.