The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is opening five new galleries to display its renowned collections from ancient Egypt and Nubia.

The Ashmolean has some of the finest Egyptian and Nubian collections in the country. Its Predynastic and Protodynastic material is considered to be amongst the most significant in the world.

The new galleries will offer a chronological journey covering more than 5,000 years of human occupation of the Nile Valley. The collections include objects that have been in storage for decades. They will be displayed under the broad themes of Egypt at its Origins; Dynastic Egypt and Nubia (present day Sudan); Life after Death in Ancient Egypt; The Amarna ‘Revolution’; Egypt in the Age of Empire; and Egypt meets Greece and Rome.

The new galleries, which open on 26 November, are the second and final phase of a £5-million project of transformation for the museum. They complete the Ashmolean’s Ancient World Floor, comprising galleries that span the world’s great ancient civilisations – from Egypt and Nubia, Prehistoric Europe, the Ancient Near East, Classical Greece and Rome, to India, China and Japan.

Professor Andrew Hamilton, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, says, ‘These remarkable collections are among the most important outside Egypt and one of the Ashmolean’s most popular attractions. With an exciting series of new galleries, the redevelopment transforms opportunities for using the collections for teaching and research at all levels, and the way they are enjoyed, cared for and integrated within the wider Museum.’

The museum is open Tue–Sun and Bank Holiday Mondays 10am–6pm. Admission to the museum and the new galleries is free.

Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. University of Oxford, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH
Tel: +44 1865 278002
Website: www.ashmolean.org