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Pitt Rivers Museum

Monday 12pm – 4.30pm.

Tuesday to Sunday 10am – 4.30pm.

Entrance is free. Donations welcome.

Votive object (Tibetan: tsa-tsa) depicting Palden Lhamo. Acquired by Augustus Pitt-Rivers before 1884 and donated as part of the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1884.59.31)

31 August 2018 - 25 January 2019

Housing over 600,000 objects, photographs and manuscripts from almost every country in the world and from all period of human existence, the displays – showing over 55,000 artefacts – are organised by type, rather than geographical region or time period. This typological arrangement can function as a 'democracy of things' and encourage global cross-cultural reflection and celebration of human creativity and cultural diversity.

Venus of Dolní Věstonice

This object is a plaster cast copy of the 'Venus of Dolní Věstonice', a Palaeolithic female figure made from a mixture of charred powdered bone and clay. The original is approximately 30,000 years old, making it one of the earliest known man-made ceramic objects. Many, but not all, Venus figurines accentuate the key physical characteristics of the female form such as the breasts, abdomen and hips, while the head, arms, legs and feet are minimally produced or absent altogether.

Underpinning every aspect of Museum activity is the work of conservators. Conservators working with ethnographic objects use detailed examination to help objects tell their own stories. Does the presence of dirt or damage to an object result from original use, or has it occured during its time at the Museum? If a method of repair performed by an originating community is now causing deterioration of the object, is it justifiable to remove it? Browse our intriguing conservation case studies to get closer to the vital work of these professionals.