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History of Science Museum, Oxford

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Multaka: Museum as Meeting Point is an intercultural project initiated in 2015 by four history museums in Berlin with and for Arabic - and Persian -speaking migrants and refugees. Multaka (Arabic: meeting point) was designed as an innovative project for educational exchange between refugees and other visitors from the Middle East and North Africa . Visitor-centered discussions with migrants in their languages are focused on the historical origin and history of acquisition of cultural objects, including the visitors' own understanding of their country's cultural heritage . As a response to increasing numbers of refugees and migrants, a central aim of the project has been the inclusion of Muslim visitors into museums.

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31-594: The History of Science Museum in Broad Street , Oxford , England , holds a leading collection of scientific instruments from Middle Ages to the 19th century. The museum building is also known as the Old Ashmolean Building to distinguish it from the newer Ashmolean Museum building completed in 1894. The museum was built in 1683, and it is the world's oldest surviving purpose-built museum . Built in 1683 to house Elias Ashmole 's collection,

62-666: A background in migration and have trained more than 100 volunteer museum guides. In 2017, the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, United Kingdom, started a similar collaborative and socially engaged project called MultakaOxford. Partners included local grassroots groups and organisations for refugees and asylum seekers. MultakaOxford is focused on the two museums' collections of textiles from

93-488: A particular focus of the guided tours in the German Historical Museum. Designed to involve visitors into discussions about their own understanding of their country's cultural heritage , the guided tours are intended to help visitors understand the connections between the origin and history of exhibits and the presentation in the collections. The Arabic or Persian-speaking Multaka Guides thus supplement

124-462: A reference library regarding the history of scientific instruments that includes manuscripts , incunabula , prints and printed ephemera , and early photographic items. The museum shows the development of mechanical clocks. Lantern clocks and longcase clocks are exhibited in the Beeson Room, named after the antiquarian horologist Cyril Beeson (1889–1975) who gave his collection to

155-526: A stone wall, iron railings and stone pillars with a set of stone heads (traditionally Roman emperors ), was built in 1664–68 to a design by Sir Christopher Wren for the University of Oxford . The Old Ashmolean Building was built in 1683 to house Elias Ashmole 's collection. It was the world's first museum to open to the public. In 1845, the Ashmolean Museum moved to Beaumont Street and

186-649: A £1 million grant for the next five years by charitable organization Alwaleed Philanthropies from Saudi Arabia . In Italy, the Egyptian Museum in Turin started a project in 2016 by training women from Egypt as intercultural guides. Since 2018, botanical gardens, archeological and art collections in Fiesole and Florence , including the Palazzo Vecchio have been operating similar tours, focusing on

217-751: Is also home to the Rochester Avionic Archive, which includes a collection of avionics that originated with the Elliot Brothers , but also includes pieces from Marconi and BAE Systems . In 2019, the museum joined six similar museums in Germany, Italy, Greece and Switzerland, creating the international Multaka network. This intercultural museum project organizes guided tours for refugees and migrants designed and offered for free by specially trained Arabic-speaking Multaka guides. The visitor-centered discussions with migrants are focused on

248-619: Is appropriately called the White Horse. On Broad Street, the Protestant Oxford Martyrs , Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley (16 October 1555), and later Thomas Cranmer (21 March 1556), were burnt at the stake just outside the city wall. A cross of granite setts in the road opposite Balliol College marks the location. Nearby in St Giles' , the events are commemorated with a Gothic Revival stone monument,

279-740: Is how historical exchange between Europe and the Middle East has influenced Western music, clothing and science and, on the other hand, how cultural change in Muslim countries has been shaped by Western modernity. In June 2019, the founding members of Multaka in Berlin and six similar museums in the United Kingdom, Italy, Greece and Switzerland started the international Multaka network. As a result, 29 museums in these countries developed similar ways of intercultural communication for visitors with

310-462: Is on the corner of Catte Street and Holywell Street, but faces Broad Street and visually forms its end. The street developed alongside the town ditch in front of the city wall , which was built in AD 911. It is a wide street, formerly called Horsemonger Street because it was Oxford's horse market. The street's one remaining pub, a 16th or 17th-century timber-framed building next to Blackwell's bookshop,

341-903: The Bode Museum and the German Historical Museum . Due to the temporary closure of the first two museums located in the Pergamon Museum in October 2023, Multaka tours have also started in the Collection of Antiquities of the Altes Museum , the Egyptian Museum , the Museum for Pre- and Early History and the Alte Nationalgalerie . German history during and following World War II , dealing with war, displacement, exile and reconstruction, has been

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372-808: The Clarendon Building , the Sheldonian Theatre and the Weston Library (renamed in 2015, part of the Bodleian Library , the main University library in Oxford) are important historical Oxford University buildings at the eastern end of the street. These buildings form the de facto centre of the University, since most academic buildings in the centre of Oxford are owned by individual (and autonomous) colleges rather than

403-551: The Martyrs' Memorial . The city walls were rebuilt in local coral ragstone in 1226–40. By the 16th or 17th century, improved artillery had made the walls obsolete, so the city divided the town ditch on the south side of Broad Street into a row of burgage plots, on which buyers built houses and later shops. Most of the wall beside Broad Street was dismantled to reuse its stone, but one bastion survives behind number 6. The Sheldonian Theatre , set back from Broad Street behind

434-488: The historical origins and history of acquisition of cultural objects, including the visitors' own understanding of their country's cultural heritage . The following have been Curator or Secretary to the Committee or Director at the museum: Broad Street, Oxford Broad Street is a wide street in central Oxford , England , just north of the former city wall. The street is known for its bookshops , including

465-481: The Arab world and on Islamic scientific instruments. Forty tour guides were selected from local communities, resulting in trained guides with different languages from Syria, Egypt , Iraq and Sudan . They have also been involved in writing new descriptions for cultural objects, in public events, and have been running social media channels. - After initial funding for the first two years had run out, MultakaOxford obtained

496-467: The University itself. To the west, the street becomes George Street . The junction with George Street is a crossroads with Magdalen Street to the north and Cornmarket Street to the south. To the east, the street becomes Holywell Street . The junction with Holywell Street is another crossroads, with Parks Road to the north and Catte Street to the south. The Indian Institute (now The James Martin 21st Century School ), designed by Basil Champneys ,

527-862: The botanical and cultural diversity resulting from East-Western exchange and their impact on the arts and cuisines in Italy. In 2022, museums and archaeological sites in Athens , Greece, launched tours with intercultural guides for Greek, English, French, Arabic and Persian. The same year, the Historical Museum in the Swiss capital Bern started a new Multaka project, after having organized and trained local guides from Afghanistan , Iran , Kurdistan , Palestine and Eritrea since 2015. In Baghdad , museum educational workshops and guided tours for children and young people have been organized as Multaka Kids in

558-463: The building itself now occupies a special position in the study of the history of science and in the development of western culture and collecting. One of the most iconic objects in the collection is Einstein's Blackboard that Albert Einstein used on 16 May 1931 in his lectures while visiting the University of Oxford , rescued by dons including E. J. Bowen and Gavin de Beer . The current collection contains around 18,000 objects from antiquity to

589-464: The building was the world's first purpose-built museum building and was also open to the public. The original concept of the museum was to institutionalize the new learning about nature that appeared in the 17th century and experiments concerning natural philosophy were undertaken in a chemical laboratory in the basement, while lectures and demonstration took place in the School of Natural History, on

620-579: The early 20th century, representing almost all aspects of the history of science and is used for both academic study and enjoyment by the visiting public. The museum contains a wide range of scientific instruments, such as quadrants , astrolabes (the most complete collection in the world with c.170 instruments), sundials , early mathematical instruments (used for calculating, astronomy , navigation , surveying and drawing), optical instruments ( microscopes , telescopes and cameras ), equipment associated with chemistry, natural philosophy and medicine, and

651-656: The former Chapel of St Mary at Smith Gate . In 1923, the building became part of Hertford College and is now formally at the northern end of the adjoining Catte Street . The first Oxfam charity shop and office were established by Cecil Jackson-Cole (1901–79) at 17 Broad Street in 1947. It is still an Oxfam shop, and in 2002 the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board unveiled a blue plaque on its outside wall. 51°45′16″N 1°15′24″W  /  51.75444°N 1.25667°W  / 51.75444; -1.25667 Multaka From 2019 onwards,

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682-465: The initial Multaka project has been joined in an international network of similar initiatives at 29 museums in the United Kingdom, Italy, Greece and Switzerland. "Multaka: Museum as Meeting Point" is an educational programme for intercultural exchange between museum visitors with a personal history of migration from the Near East and North Africa on the one hand, and the museum staff and tour guides on

713-572: The middle floor. Ashmole's collection was expanded to include a broad range of activities associated with the history of natural knowledge. In 1924, Lewis Evans donated his collection of historic scientific instruments, creating the Lewis Evans Collection. In 1935, with more donations, the museum's name was changed to the Museum of the History of Science. In 2018, the museum was renamed the History of Science Museum. The collection and

744-418: The museum. Early turret clocks are exhibited above the stairs from the basement to the raised ground floor. The museum hold a collection of turned ivory and other objects made by Lady Gertrude Crawford . From October 2009 until February 2010, the Museum hosted the first major exhibition of Steampunk art objects, curated by Art Donovan and presented by Dr Jim Bennett , then the museum director. The museum

775-634: The north side of the street, was founded by Benjamin Henry Blackwell , the son of the first city librarian, in 1879. The shop was initially only 12 feet square, but quickly grew to include space upstairs, in the cellar, and neighbouring shops. It is now Oxford's leading bookshop, with other specialist branches elsewhere in Broad Street and Oxford. During 1894–1923, the Holywell Press had its premises and bookshop at 29 Broad Street in

806-504: The original Blackwell's bookshop at number 50, located here due to the University of Oxford . Among residents, the street is traditionally known as The Broad . On the street is a memorial paving for the Oxford Martyrs . In Broad Street are Balliol College , Trinity College , Exeter College (front entrance in the adjoining Turl Street ). The Museum of the History of Science (in the original Ashmolean Museum building),

837-568: The original Ashmolean building became offices for the Oxford English Dictionary . Since 1924, the building has housed the Museum of the History of Science. The Clarendon Building was built 1711–15 to house the Oxford University Press 's printing operations. It was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor , a pupil of Wren. The academic and physician Henry Acland (1815–1900) lived in the street at number 40 on

868-467: The other. During discussions in the visitors' language, specially trained Multaka Guides provide information and new insights about museum items typically originating from Arab and other Middle Eastern cultures. The project was initiated in 2015 by the Museum of Islamic Art Berlin in Germany and has since been offered free of charge in cooperation with the Museum of the Ancient Near East ,

899-422: The site of the Weston Library , part of Oxford University's Bodleian Library . His daughter Sarah Angelina Acland (1849–1930), a pioneer of colour photography, was born here. Boswells , the largest independent department store in Oxford, was established in 1738, and traded at the same location on the south side of Broad Street opposite Balliol College until its closure in 2020. Thornton's Bookshop , also on

930-506: The south side of the street at number 11, was founded by Joseph Thornton (1808–91) in 1835 and closed at the end of 2002. The pioneer photographer Henry Taunt (1842–1922) had a shop and studio at 9–10 Broad Street, moving here from Cornmarket Street in 1874. He also established a picture-framing business in Boxall's Yard, behind the premises. The lease expired in 1894 and he was forced to file for bankruptcy. Blackwell's bookshop, on

961-655: The visitors' previous knowledge in their native language and in dialogues based on mutual appreciation. For Syrian Multaka guide Kefah Ali Deeb , a statue of the Syro- Phoenician deity Hadad is an example of the origins of her homeland's religions in ancient myths. The project's intention to present museum objects as an expression of appreciation for Islamic cultures in an educational way for migrants has been followed by similar activities. Thus, Multaka guides have been conducting interactive games and exercises in Berlin schools and cultural centres. Central to this

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