Statue of Apollo, Pediment of the Ashmolean Museum
The architect of the Museum, Charles Robert Cockerell, took his
inspiration for the design of the building from the Temple of Apollo at Bassae, Greece. As the god of Music and the Arts, Apollo presided over the Muses. Each of the nine Muses was responsible for one of the Liberal Arts and Sciences. In Ancient Greek the word museum means ‘place of the Muses’.

The East frieze of the main staircase of the Ashmolean
Museum
The frieze shows centaurs and Lapiths engaged in a furious fight.
The frieze is a recreation of the one that decorated the Temple of Apollo at Bassae. Its blue background illustrates the paint scheme of the original temple friezes: the marble figures would have stood out clearly against the blue, a crucial visual aid for anyone standing on the ground and looking up.

Casts A45 through A70
Cast Gallery
These casts, on display in the bays immediately surrounding the Apollo statue, are also figures from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. They give a sense of the style and visual impact of the sculptured objects as a group.