Pitt Rivers Museum

This has nothing at all to do with the Winter Workshops, but seeing as you're interested in art, you might find this interesting too. The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England, is probably my favourite museum in the world. The first time I visited this amazing place, I felt like I had stumbled across this marvellous, unexpected thing, that the whole world just HAD to know about. I couldn't believe that I hadn't known it existed before I curiously wandered through its doors.

So, what is the Pitt Rivers Museum? The Pitt Rivers Museum cares for the University of Oxford's collection of anthropology and world archaeology - or, in other words, the pillage hauled back home to England from all over the world by explorers and adventurers of far flung lands. It is a treasure trove of amazingness. Can I talk it up any further? Probably not. When I visited in 2001, it was a dusty, seemingly forgotten - though still magical - place. Handwritten labels described the items crammed together in glass cabinets - collections of shrunken heads from different cultures and continents all in one display case; or seed necklaces from a dozen different places jumbled together in another cabinet. All with handwritten labels tied on with bits of string.

But from the looks of the website, it has been spruced up quite a bit since then. Take a tour and see what you think.

Ibo Mask, Nigeria (Pitt Rivers collection)

Mavungu, Democratic Republic Congo (Pitt Rivers collection)

Mummified cat, Ancient Egypt (Pitt Rivers collection)

Trephination tools, Algeria (Pitt Rivers collection)

 Many of the objects on the website are accompanied by descriptions of how they came to be in the Pitt Rivers collection, and provide a rich context. Worth spending an hour or two browsing.