Works on paper fade quickly when exposed to light and are extremely fragile, making it impossible to keep them on permanent display.
The Ashmolean’s Print Room offers access to beautiful and significant drawings, watercolours and prints by a wide range of artists from the 15th century to the present day including Michelangelo, Rubens, Ruskin and Degas, among others.
OPENING HOURS
Open Tuesday–Friday, 10.30am–12.30pm and 2–4pm
In addition, the Print Room will be open on the second and third Saturdays of the month, 10.30am–12.30pm and 2–4pm:
14 Oct, 21 Oct, 11 Nov, 18 Nov, 9 Dec, 16 Dec.
Christmas closure: The Print Room will be closed over Christmas and New Year from Sun 17 Dec – Mon 8 Jan 2024, inclusive. We will reopen on Tue 9 Jan 2024.
Admission is FREE but pre-booking is recommended.
We recommend that visitors book an appointment at least one week in advance
If you are running late or need to cancel your appointment, please let our Print Room staff know as soon as possible
Drop-in appointments will be accommodated where possible, but must be requested before 3pm
Please note there will be restricted access to the reserve collections until the new year due to a collections-based project. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
BOOKING
We recommend that visitors book an appointment at least one week in advance.
Click on the link below to book via our online form, or contact us by email or phone.
Please do tell us what you'd like to view on your visit. You can request your area of special interest OR ask to view the Print Room Highlights Selection.
To access the Print Room, talk to our staff at the Museum's Information Desk on the Ground Floor. They will arrange your visit and show you how to find us.
When visiting the Print Room
all bags must be left in our lockers
please only use pencils (not propelling pencils) to make notes
no food, drink or chewing gum is allowed
There is no lift access to the Print Room, but we can make items from the collection available to you if you have difficulty with stairs. Please let us know in advance if you would like to arrange this.
REQUESTS TO VIEW MICHELANGELO AND RAPHAEL
Michelangelo and Raphael’s drawings are some of the most popular works in the collection. They are also very fragile, so in order to preserve these works for future generations, we ask that you book well in advance in writing.
Guide to the Western Art Print Room
The Ashmolean's extraordinary collection contains around 25,000 drawings and over 250,000 prints.
The Print Room exists to enable access to our collection for both study and enjoyment. We’re open to everyone with an interest in works of art on paper, whether students, researchers, artists or members of the general public.
If you're not sure what to view in the Print Room, we've prepared a Print Room Highlights Selection as an introduction. You can ask for this in your booking request.
This group of six objects has been specially curated by Print Room staff to showcase examples from all the major European Schools of Art.
It features prints, watercolours and drawings in various media, from the 16th to the 20th century, and includes works by well-known artists such as Dürer, Rembrandt and Turner.
