Ashmole lives in the 1600s in England, and was involved in several different disciplines including history, politics and astrology. He donated a group of "curiosities" to the University of Oxford in 1677. The school soon put up a building to house them and other objects. As a result, Britain had its first public museum in 1678 - and we're closing in on on 350 years. It's also the world's second-oldest university museum, losing out to the University of Basel by 16 years. A new building went up in 1845, and it remains in operation today.
The museum has a great deal of work from famous people. Take a look at this list - Michelangelo, Raphael, da Vinci, Picasso, Cezanne, Rubens. In addition it has a Stradivarius violin, an Arab ceremonial dress owned by Lawrence of Arabia, and a death mask of Oliver Cromwell. That's quite a range.
You'd hope that Oxford, the home of one of the world's most prestigious universities, would have a museum like this. Let's take a look at it.
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