"They do love the mummies...." Making use of outstanding resources in the Ashmolean Museum

‘An embarrassment of riches' is not an inappropriate description of the new ancient Egyptian galleries in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The Ashmolean has always been famous for its Egyptian collection, being the product of the work of Oxford academics for over a 100 years, but the problem in the past has been that they have been housed in a rather cramped nineteenth century area of the museum. Thanks to additional funding to the Ashmolean refurbishment from Lord Sainsbury this has all changed now and the bright, airy and creatively lit new galleries now shows off this remarkable collection in, literally, its best light!

Too awesome?

The problem this poses for the school visitors and the education staff is to how best to utilise this resource in an hour and half visit. The galleries were designed to accommodate as wide...