Oxford Sights

  1. Ashmolean Museum

    A vast, rambling collection of art and antiquities is on display at the mammoth Ashmolean Museum , Britain's oldest public museum. Established in 1683, it is based on the extensive collection of the remarkably well-travelled John Tradescant, gardener to Charles I, and housed in one of Britain's best examples of neo-Grecian architecture.

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  2. Modern Art Oxford

    Far removed from Oxford's musty hallways of history, Modern Art Oxford is one of the best contemporary art museums outside London.

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  3. Museum of Oxford

    The Museum of Oxford is dedicated to the history of the city and its university.

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  4. Museum of the History of Science

    The Museum of the History of Science has a significant collection of historic scientific instruments and a blackboard used by Einstein.

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  5. Old Library

    Just off the Mob Quad is a 13th-century chapel and the Old Library, the oldest medieval library in use. It is said that Professor JRR Tolkien spent many hours here while writing The Lord of the Rings . Other literary giants associated with the college include TS Eliot and Louis MacNeice.

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  6. Pitt Rivers Museum

    Hidden away through a door at the back of the main exhibition hall of a glorious Victorian Gothic building, the Pitt Rivers Museum is a treasure-trove of weird and wonderful displays to satisfy every armchair adventurer's wildest dreams. In the half-light inside are glass cases and mysterious drawers stuffed with Victorian explorers' prized trophies. Feathered cloaks, necklaces of teeth, blowpipes, magic charms, Noh masks, totem poles, fur parkas, musical instruments and shrunken heads lurk here, making it a fascinating place for adults and children. The museum also runs an excellent series of children's workshops (usually the first Saturday of the month).

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  7. Tower of Five Orders

    On the eastern side of the Bodleian Library's Old Schools Quadrangle is the Tower of Five Orders, an ornate building depicting the five classical orders of architecture.

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  8. University Museum

    Housed in a glorious Victorian Gothic building with slender, cast-iron columns, ornate capitals and a soaring glass roof, the University Museum is worth a visit for its architecture alone. However, the real draw is the mammoth natural history collection of more than five million exhibits ranging from exotic insects and fossils to a towering T-Rex skeleton.

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