ANTIQUITIES STUDY ROOM

TEMPORARY CLOSURE & RESTRICTED ACCESS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIES COLLECTIONS 2026–2028

The Department of Antiquities Study Room will be closed for two years for a major project from March 2026 to March 2028. During this time access to the collections for research will be limited to digitised material, curatorial advice and gallery access only. Staff may take longer than usual to respond to enquiries.

About the project

The Ashmolean’s Department of Antiquities is home to approximately 275,000 objects, many of which are held in storage to support teaching, research and discovery for the University of Oxford, schools, and scholars from around the world.

From March 2026, the Department is undertaking a project to relocate collections from storage which is being decommissioned, to rationalise onsite storage at the Museum, and to make objects available in the University’s new Collections Teaching and Research Centre opening late in 2026. At the same time, the collections will be condition-checked, photographed and digitised to support long-term care, enhanced access, and future research engagement.

All Department of Antiquities galleries within the Museum remain open as usual.

Thank you for your patience and we apologise in advance for any delays in communications.

Access our Collections Online

For urgent research enquiries please contact: antiquities@ashmus.ox.ac.uk and we will respond as promptly as possible.

Department of Antiquities

Details of Study Room opening times will be added after the current temporary closures

DURING YOUR VISIT

You can view around 15 objects or four archive volumes

Please come to the St Giles’ entrance of the Ashmolean at your appointed time to visit the study centre and ask Reception to call the Antiquities Department.

The centre is accessible via the Museum lifts

PHOTOGRAPHY

When visiting our study centre, please:

  • make sure you have permission from the relevant Ashmolean curator if you wish to take photographs
  • only take photographs for private use or study; permission is needed for any form of publication (you can contact the Picture Library for instructions about ordering and reproducing images).

Enquiries regarding photography for image orders and reproduction rights should be sent to the Picture Library, and more information can be found here https://www.ashmolean.org/ordering-images

OFFSITE COLLECTIONS

Part of the Antiquities collections, including large groups of archaeological material, is held offsite and currently being relocated to new storage facilities. This major project, involving all the University museums, is due for completion in 2028. During this period, some material may not be accessible for research or other purposes. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.