Museums get money for makeovers

In Oxfordshire, the Ashmolean Museum will receive £165,000, Pitt Rivers Museum has £128,000, and the Museum of Natural History will get £55,000.

The Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset, and the National Motor Museum Beaulieu in Hampshire will also receive funding.

The Wolfson Foundation together with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport provided the grant.

'Oldest collection'

Hampshire's Willis museum also benefited with a grant of £50,000.

Dr Chris Brown, of the Ashmolean Museum, said: "We will use the grant to refurbish our casts gallery which is the oldest, largest collection of Greek sculpture in the UK."

The Ashmolean in Oxfordshire recently acquired a rare ceramic boar's head tureen as part of its western art collection, the only one in the UK.

Pitt Rivers museum director Michael O'Hanlon said they now receive nearly 200,000 visitors a year. Its grant will be used to upgrade the museum's services to deal with the increasing demand.

The annual grant award is in its fifth year, and so far has provided £20m to arts and culture in the UK.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
The Ashmolean Museum
Pitt Rivers Museum
The Museum of Natural History
The Tank Museum Bovington
The National Motor Museum Beaulieu
Willis Museum
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