Pharoah Taharqa recieves life from the gods; detail of a temple shrine, once part of a much larger complex at Kawa, Nubia (now in Sudan) built by the Nubian Pharoah Taharqa.

One of the country's finest museums, the Ashmolean covers all facets of ancient history across the globe up to the medieval period and beyond, along with a fine art collection from the Renaissance to the Pre Raphaelites.

The collections are housed in a magnificent neo-classical building by C.S.Cockerell which been recently re-ordered within to create dramatic new gallery spaces. The work recently concluded with the refurbishment of the Egyptian galleries, reopened in late 2011, with the exhibits displayed to far better advantage than before with improved space and lighting.