Fitzwilliam-Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge in England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1816 by the bequest of Richard Fitzwilliam who spent his entire book and the museum 's art collection bequeathed. Fitzwilliams bequest also included £ 100,000 to establish a " substantial Museum magazine ."
The " founder building " was designed by George Basevi, completed by Charles Cockerell and opened in 1848. The entrance hall was designed by Edward Middleton Barry and was completed in 1875. The Museum has about 300,000 visitors a year. Admission is free.
The Egyptian galleries at the Fitzwilliam Museum was reopened in 2006 after two years of restoration, conservation and research.
Collection
The museum consists of five departments: Antiquities, Applied Arts, Coins and Medals, Manuscripts and printed books as well as paintings, drawings and prints.
Antiques
Ancient Egypt, Sudan, Ancient Greece and Roman Empire, Roman and Roman- Egyptian art, western Arab expenses and a new gallery of Cypriot art.
Applied Arts
English and European pottery and glass, furniture, clocks, fans, armor, Chinese, Japanese and Korean art and carpets.
Coins and Medals
The collection includes more than 190,000 individual pieces. These include coins from all over the world from the beginning of coinage to the present time. There are historical and artistic medals, which are supplemented by military and civilian awards. In addition, still belongs to the collection a variety of gems and cameos.
The collection is housed separately. Instead, the individual pieces are assigned to the different departments and presented in the appropriate cultural and artistic context. You will find therefore scattered throughout the museum. Thus, the medieval and modern Islamic coins in the "Near East Gallery ," the coins and medals of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in the Rothschild Gallery, for example, to see.
Part of the collection was made available to the museum online exhibitions.
Manuscripts and printed books
The collection also includes Illuminated, literary and musical manuscripts and rare books. A musical manuscript, for example, the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. This is an extensive handwritten collection of pieces for the virginal. It contains 297 pieces, almost all of English origin. The collection is made in the period 1610-1625. The writer of the manuscript was probably Francis Tregian.
Paintings, drawings and prints
Masterpieces by Simone Martini, Domenico Veneziano, Titian, Veronese, Rubens, Van Dyck, van Goyen, Frans Hals, Canaletto, Gainsborough, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne and Picasso, and a collection of 20th century art.
Many items in the museum are on loan from the colleges of the University, such as an important group of Impressionist paintings in the possession of King's College, including Cézanne's The Abduction.
Friends of the Fitzwilliam
Founded in support of the museum in 1909 " Friends of the Fitzwilliam " are the oldest society of its kind in the UK.
This and That
In January 2006, a visitor heavily damaged three valuable vases of the Qing Dynasty, when he fell down a flight of stairs. The vases were issued at this location since 1948 and have an estimated value of several hundred thousand pounds. In April 2006 he was arrested for criminal damage.