A month ago, from 4th to 18th September 2011 to be exact, I had the chance to stay in Oxford for two weeks. Oxford is famous for its world-class university called as everyone knows, Oxford University. This university is the oldest university in the English speaking world. No wonder, Oxford is known as the "city of dreaming spires", reference to the architecture of Oxford's university buildings. The university has been dominating the city itself by having colleges, libraries, and also museums. That makes this city that is filled with students and lecturers a very historical city with old architectural buildings.
While staying in Oxford, of course I did not want to miss the opportunity to visit museums in there. One of the museums I visited was Ashmolean Museum. The first time I entered the museum, I could directly feel that this museum is unlike other museums, most museums I had visited are boring, and sometimes a little bit horror. I knew museums in city like this would be very much historical and worth taking a look at. But still, I was amazed at how interesting, marvelous, and interactive a museum could be. Its tagline is “museum of art and archaeology Oxford University.” Yes, this museum is a university museum and a part of the department of Oxford University. The museum is located Beaumont Street, opposite the luxurious Randolph Hotel. Ashmolean Museum was an old museum, as it opened in 1683, but recently it has been renovated and unveild to public in 2009 as a classic museum. The museum has five floors, which we can say large for a museum. I am pretty sure you could spend a day taking a look at Ashmolean’s collections. It also has restaurant and a gift shop. Both of them are large, too. The museum has so, so very many (I mean it) collections, and each floor has different type of historical collection. I am going to show you some collections at the museum that attracted me while I was there.
(You can take a look at the photographs at the bottom of this post)
The Parlian Marble
It might seem like a an ordinary marble with asymmetric edge. But in fact, it is the oldest surviving example of a Greek ‘chronological table’. It was compiled on the island of Paros in 264/3 BC and lists important events going back to 1581/0 BC. Early events are mythical and include King Cecrops coming to the Athenian throne in 1581/0 BC, Deucalion surviving a flood sent by the gods in 1528/7, the goddess Demeter inventing corn in 1409/8 and the fall of Troy in 1209/8. This fragment covers the years 895-355 BC. Entries for this period are more historical. They include famous battles - Marathon in 490, Salamis in 480 and Plataea in 479 - and Sophocles’ first victory at a drama festival in 469. The death of Socrates is listed at 400 BC but Ashmolead actually knew from other sources that he died in 399. This fragment came to Oxford in 1667. Another piece of the fragment was lost in London during the Civil War. A third fragment was found on Paros in 1897.
Lucera Bronzes
Another collection of the museum that was interesting is Lucera Bronzes. Lucera bronzes were found in a vineyard below the Caste at Lucera, Apulia in 1800. They comprused three wheeled supports in the form of a human leg, and each surmounted by a goat’s head; animals, including a bird, bull, a stag, and other quadrupeds; and a fourteen ‘human figures of monstrous proportions’ according to Eduard Gerhard who was very much aware that he was breaking a taboo in publishing objects that might not be aesthetically peasing to most of his contemporaries. By the 1850, the Lucera bronzes had been united into a single object: the three wheeled legs had been attached to the dish, and some of the men and animals placed on top. This reconstruction became an importants objects in its own right, providing the basis for speculation as to the original appearance of ‘the Lucera wagon.’
Eldery Fisherman
Next, is a sculpture of an eldery fisherman (about AD 200). This emaciated figure of an eldery fisherman once held a fish basket in his left hand and represents an eldery fisherman. The original sculpture was marble and the pieces are now held in Berlin (torso) and Aphrodisias (head, legs, and plinth). Over thwenty different ancient versions of this statue are known. This version in Ashmolead is a reconstruction made by assembling plaster casts of the surviving pieces. While most sculputures from the time depict gods, warriors or rulers, this is an unusually sympathetic portayal of a working man. That is why I found this sculputure interesting.
Portrait of Arthur Evans
The portrait of Arthur Evans was painted by Sir William Richmond, with oil on canvas in 1907. Richmond was a friend of Evans and a keen supporter of the Knossos Excavations. Evans is posed in front of olive trees and mountains to suggest a Cretan setting and a somewhat freely interpreted reconstruction of the ruins at Knossos. He is shown holding a tablet inscribed in Linear B, on of the three scripts he identified in Crete. The portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy in May 1907, to somewhat mixed reviews. It was presented to the Ashmolean by a body of internationals subscribers to celebrate Evan’s work both at Knossos and at the museum.
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| In front of Ashmolean Museum |
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| The Parian Marble |
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| Lucera Bronzes |
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| Eldery Fisherman |
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| Portrait of Arthur Evans |
