Today we finished up the kids' summer museum "passport" program. They've now collected stickers from six of the seven Oxford landmarks on their passports! Today we visited the Bodleian Library, Museum of Natural History, and the Pitt Rivers Museum.
The Bodleian Library is one of Europe's oldest libraries. Its collection officially began in the 1300s, and the first library room was built in 1488. We couldn't take a tour or see any of the book collections because kids have to be at least 11 to go in. We did get a fun walking/spotting tour of the library quad, and we were also allowed inside the Divinity School. This room was built in 1427 for lectures and exams, and it has quite an intricate ceiling.
Then we walked to the Natural History Museum, where the kids have visited several times. We saw all the favorites, including the queen bee in the honey bee hive! We noticed that the columns on the outer colonnade are all clad with stone from various parts of the UK and Ireland. We also enjoyed the touchable rocks area.
The Pitt Rivers Museum is attached to the Natural History Museum, and that was our final stop. This museum is absolutely packed with cultural artifacts from around the world. They are grouped by category, so as to demonstrate how there are many similarities among cultures, even if things look a little different from place to place. That was my interpretation, anyhow :)
Examining college shields on the entrance door
to the Bodleian Library complex
The Divinity School
Natural History Museum
Quartz, 1.1 billion years old
Ammonite fossil, 140 million years old
Orbicular granite, 2.7 billion years old
Nantan Meteroite, 4.5 billion years old
Pitt Rivers Museum
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