The Ashmolean, Oxford University’s museum of art and archaeology, was founded in 1683 and is one of the city’s top visitor attractions.

It is now open to visitors every day of the week. Here we look at some photos of the attraction since the £61m revamp of 2009.

That was the year when the Beaumont Street attraction welcomed back museum visitors following a radical refurbishment.

The museum had undergone a redesign, incorporating a stunning new atrium as its centrepiece.

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Dr Christopher Brown, who was in charge of the refurbishment as director at the time, welcomed the changes as a media scrum descended to see the results.

Oxford Mail:

The redesign paid off with the new elements of the museum existing alongside older galleries which remained.

Visitor numbers over the past decade have grown with high-profile exhibitions drawing people in.

This included a Pompeii exhibition in the summer of 2019.

Oxford Mail:

It featured some of the very finest pieces of art, and most revealing artefacts, from Pompeii in a show which ranked among the most important in the museum’s history.

The exhibition, Last Supper in Pompeii, told the story of life in the former resort city through food and drink.

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Items range from the everyday - charred remains of fruit, bread and grains -to the monumental - a glowing marble statue of Bacchus, god of wine.

Oxford Mail:

The same year the museum persuaded high-profile American artist Jeff Koons to stage an exhibition.

For more on the latest activities and exhibitions visit ashmolean.org.

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This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF