Ashmolean
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Ashmolean
How ancient is the Ashmolean Museum? Well, when it first opened its doors back in 1683 the word 'museum' was still not listed in the dictionary. Elias Ashmole's collection of curiosities, taking in paintings, jewellery, antiquities and geological specimens, was a revelation, the first of its kind to be open to the general public.
There's a gloriously English eccentricity to the items on display here. The fabled 9th-century Alfred Jewel is a highlight, as are paintings by Da Vinci and Turner, but lovers of the unusual will flock to Oliver Cromwell's death mask, the lantern Guy Fawkes used on Gunpowder Plot night and the rings that inspired JRR Tolkien.