Oxford is lucky to have several popular university museums including the Ashmolean and soon they will be able to reopen under the Government’s plan to ease lockdown restrictions.
The Prime Minister has announced that museums and libraries across England can reopen from May 17 as part of a four-step 'roadmap' to lifting lockdown.
Pitt Rivers collections on the move Pictture: Ian Wallman
Pubs and restaurants, allowed to serve customers outside from April 12 when non-essential shops reopened will, from May 17, be able to serve customers inside as well.
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Museums including the Ashmolean have run a programme of events online during the lockdowns.
A coronavirus art competition at the Ashmolean Museum in 2020
Museums were closed for most of 2020 as the pandemic took hold.
Some museums reopened in December but all institutions were forced to close on December 30 when another national lockdown was put in place, leading to further revenue losses and ongoing disruption.
The Museum of Natural History in Oxford
If there is no resurgence in coronavirus infections, Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes to lift all lockdown restrictions by June 21.
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Sharon Heal, the director of the Museums Association, said in February: “There’s no logic for museum reopening to be delayed until May 17. "Museums and their audiences are losing out because the government has classified museums as ‘indoor entertainment venues’ alongside cinemas and theatres.
The Ashmolean's rooftop restaurant used for a conference in 2020
"Yet in terms of implementing social distancing, they have far more in common with libraries, public buildings and community centres."
American artist Jeff Koons at the Ashmolean Museum in 2019
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The Ashmolean is staging an exhibition called Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings and Watercolours, which runs from May 18 to June 20 and visitors can book a ticket online at ashmolean.org.
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