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Travel Blog of the Gaps
Hello again, Blogonauts!
On Sunday, I wandered through the collections found in a triumvirate of treasure troves, i.e., three of the many museums found in Oxford.
Universities are often endowed with semiprecious or memorable objects. Most often these bits of historic paraphernalia were discovered, invented, constructed, or just as often, pilfered by their graduates and patrons.
The Louvre, the Prada, the Uffizi, the Rijksmuseum, even the Vatican Museum would be small collections indeed, were it not for the largess of the Crusaders and similarly belicose benefactors with booty to bestow.
Oxford University benefits from England's conquests, and thus has amassed an impressive array of knick-knacks to ogle and appreciate.
The jewel in this crown was founded in the mid 17th century by a real Ashmole—Elias Ashmole, to be precise. Despite the giggle-inducing name, the Ashmolean Museum has evolved through the years to become a passable museum of art and archaeology.
While, in my view, its collection of art falls short of the stunning works compiled in the above listed premier storehouses, most cities would turn green with envy to have just a single room from the Ashmolean. They have mummies galore, recastings of various Greek & Roman statues, and plenty of good (and some great) art from every corner and era of the planet.
The University Museum of Natural History, which sits a few blocks away, comes next. It is housed in an unusually bright, cavernous Victorian building. Within its walls stands an amazing collection of fossils great and small, and buckets of examples of biological and geological evolution. Just check out some of the photos.
The info in the exhibits here is presented in a truly family-friendly fashion, ignoring the fact that this is essentially an ANIMAL GRAVEYARD. ("Alas, poor oryx! I knew him, Horatio!") Documenting the demise of nearly every species ever to exist has never seemed like this much fun since Genesis!
And finally, attached to the natural history museum, and housed in another large chamber, is the Pitt Rivers Museum. Let me take a moment here. This is not your typical collection. I don't mean to grouse. I really don't. But my goodness, what a dog's dinner this turned out to be!
Display cases with shrunken heads stand next to others filled with model ships, walrus tusks, and banjos. Art, religious objects, and weaponry from Asia, Africa, and the Americas are crammed together into display cases that themselves are arranged around walkways so narrow that no one can pass another visitor who has stopped to examine an object (or more likely a collection of loosely related objects).
In the Pitt Rivers, I distinctly felt I had stumbled into Capt. Spaulding's attic. But instead, it was all from the attic of Lt. General Augustus Pitt Rivers, who donated the lot to the University to help establish an anthropology department. Too bad they didn't begin with an organization and cataloging department. I doubt even the curators know what curiosities they have under lock and key.
After the museums closed, I passed by St. Giles Church, where a talented choir was rehearsing for evensong. I stopped in to listen, and ended up staying for the music-packed service. The local schoolgirls choir was joining the regulars, and they were all enchanting.
And at long last, the day ended with a Salmon and Cous-Cous dinner salad at the Eagle and Child pub.
My day seems in this retelling as tightly packed one of General Pitt Rivers' cabinets. I'll endeavor to be more succinct in the future.
On Monday, I am off to Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill. Join me then!
Blog to you later!
On Sunday, I wandered through the collections found in a triumvirate of treasure troves, i.e., three of the many museums found in Oxford.
Universities are often endowed with semiprecious or memorable objects. Most often these bits of historic paraphernalia were discovered, invented, constructed, or just as often, pilfered by their graduates and patrons.
The Louvre, the Prada, the Uffizi, the Rijksmuseum, even the Vatican Museum would be small collections indeed, were it not for the largess of the Crusaders and similarly belicose benefactors with booty to bestow.
Oxford University benefits from England's conquests, and thus has amassed an impressive array of knick-knacks to ogle and appreciate.
The jewel in this crown was founded in the mid 17th century by a real Ashmole—Elias Ashmole, to be precise. Despite the giggle-inducing name, the Ashmolean Museum has evolved through the years to become a passable museum of art and archaeology.
While, in my view, its collection of art falls short of the stunning works compiled in the above listed premier storehouses, most cities would turn green with envy to have just a single room from the Ashmolean. They have mummies galore, recastings of various Greek & Roman statues, and plenty of good (and some great) art from every corner and era of the planet.
The University Museum of Natural History, which sits a few blocks away, comes next. It is housed in an unusually bright, cavernous Victorian building. Within its walls stands an amazing collection of fossils great and small, and buckets of examples of biological and geological evolution. Just check out some of the photos.
The info in the exhibits here is presented in a truly family-friendly fashion, ignoring the fact that this is essentially an ANIMAL GRAVEYARD. ("Alas, poor oryx! I knew him, Horatio!") Documenting the demise of nearly every species ever to exist has never seemed like this much fun since Genesis!
And finally, attached to the natural history museum, and housed in another large chamber, is the Pitt Rivers Museum. Let me take a moment here. This is not your typical collection. I don't mean to grouse. I really don't. But my goodness, what a dog's dinner this turned out to be!
Display cases with shrunken heads stand next to others filled with model ships, walrus tusks, and banjos. Art, religious objects, and weaponry from Asia, Africa, and the Americas are crammed together into display cases that themselves are arranged around walkways so narrow that no one can pass another visitor who has stopped to examine an object (or more likely a collection of loosely related objects).
In the Pitt Rivers, I distinctly felt I had stumbled into Capt. Spaulding's attic. But instead, it was all from the attic of Lt. General Augustus Pitt Rivers, who donated the lot to the University to help establish an anthropology department. Too bad they didn't begin with an organization and cataloging department. I doubt even the curators know what curiosities they have under lock and key.
After the museums closed, I passed by St. Giles Church, where a talented choir was rehearsing for evensong. I stopped in to listen, and ended up staying for the music-packed service. The local schoolgirls choir was joining the regulars, and they were all enchanting.
And at long last, the day ended with a Salmon and Cous-Cous dinner salad at the Eagle and Child pub.
My day seems in this retelling as tightly packed one of General Pitt Rivers' cabinets. I'll endeavor to be more succinct in the future.
On Monday, I am off to Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill. Join me then!
Blog to you later!
- comments
R 1 Opps, for a moment I thought Toby was there!!!