Oxford University Museums & Galleries

The Ashmolean Museum, founded in 1683, is not only the UK's oldest museum, but also the world's oldest university museum. Its substantial art and archaeology collections include works by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Turner and Picasso, alongside treasures such as the Scorpion Macehead, the Parian Marble and the Alfred Jewel. Another highlight is 'The Messiah', a pristine Stradivarius violin regarded by some as one of the finest examples in existence. Following a £49m redevelopment, the Ashmolean reopened in November 2009 with new facilities and double the display space.

Housed in a large neo-Gothic building within the university’s Science Area, the Museum of Natural History displays the university’s anatomical and natural history specimens. Its collections boast the world's most intact remains of a dodo, plus the skeletons of a Tyrannosaurus rex and triceratops. The museum also hosts the Simonyi Professorship of the Public Understanding of Science, currently held by Marcus du Sautoy.

Adjoining the Museum of Natural History is the Pitt Rivers Museum, which displays the university’s archaeological and anthropological collections, comprising over 500,000 items. Since its foundation in 1884, the museum's staff have been involved in teaching anthropology at the university.

The Museum of the History of Science is housed on Broad Street in the world’s oldest-surviving purpose-built museum building. This holds 15,000 artefacts, ranging from antiquity to the 20th century and representing virtually all aspects of the history of science.

In the Faculty of Music is the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments, mostly comprising of instruments from Western classical music, from the medieval period onwards.

Christ Church Picture Gallery holds a collection of over 200 old master paintings.

The Botanic Garden is the UK's oldest botanic garden and the world's third oldest scientific garden, and has specimens from over 90% of the world’s higher plant families.