OXFORD’S Ashmolean Museum has missed out on a prestigious £20,000 architecture prize, following its £61m revamp.

The Maxxi contemporary art museum in Rome has won the UK's Stirling Prize for architecture.

The award went to London-based Zaha Hadid Architects and was given for the building deemed to have made the greatest contribution to British architecture.

The Ashmolean, in Beaumont Street, re-opened at the end of last year following a major redevelopment. It was on a shortlist of six.

Museum director Christopher Brown said: “There was a lot of enthusiasm for the Ashmolean and we were pleased to be in such distinguished company.

“Recently our one milionth visitor came through the door since the museum re-opened — that’s one million visitors in 10 months which is a huge figure for any museum.”

The winner was announced on BBC Two's The Culture Show last night.

Past winners of the Royal Institute of British Architect's prize include the Scottish Parliament and London's "Gherkin" tower.

Maxxi was an early favourite for the prize, now in its 15th year.

The other buildings on the shortlist were the Bateman's Row mixed-use development in east London, Christ's College School in Guildford, Surrey, Clapham Manor Primary School in south-west London, and Neues Museum, in Berlin.