Art News

Ashmolean Museum in Oxford opens new galleries of Ancient Egypt and Nubia

OXFORD.- On Saturday 26 November 2011, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford opened six new galleries for the collections of Ancient Egypt and Nubia (present day Sudan). Building on the success of the Museum’s extension, which opened in 2009, this second phase of major redevelopment redisplays the world-renowned Egyptian collections to exhibit objects that have been in storage for decades, more than doubling the number of mummies and coffins on display. The galleries take visitors on a chronological journey covering more than 5000 years of human occupation of the Nile Valley. The £5 million project has received lead support from Lord Sainsbury’s Linbury Trust, along with the Selz Foundation and other trusts, foundations and individuals. Rick Mather Architects have led the redesign and redisplay of the pre-existing Egypt galleries and the extension into the restored Ruskin Gallery, previously occupied by the Museum Shop. T