What's on in Oxford

Pitt Rivers Museum

Daily

Cost: Free

Hours: Mon 12pm-4.30pm; Tue-Sun 10am-4.30pm

The Pitt Rivers Museum is the ethnographic museum of Oxford University, a treasure trove of man's creations from all over the world. Discover artefacts from a witch in a bottle to Hawaiian feather cloaks and a Kalabari household shrine.

Founded in 1884 after Lieutenant-General Augustus Lane Fox Pitt Rivers donated 18,000 artefacts to Oxford University, the Pitt Rivers Museum has grown to now house approximately half a million items and is one of the most comprehensive ethnographic collections in the world.

Reopened in May 2009 after extensive refurbishment, the museum's three-storey Victorian display hall is crammed with a seemingly infinite variety of curious objects from forgotten cultures. Items are categorised by purpose rather than their geographic origin, so visitors have the opportunity to compare tools and complementary innovations from disparate nations and charming hand-written labels provide explanations as to what exactly is being displayed.

Not just a collection for Oxford's academics, the Pitt Rivers Museum actively encourages visits from throughout the community, and often arranges family-friendly activities. Make use of the wind-up electric torches provided when you enter the museum and indulge in your own mystery trail through millennia worth of ancient treasures.

Pitt Rivers Museum