The Eton Museum of Antiquities in the purpose-built Jafar Gallery is comprised of a collection made up of bequests from Old Etonians.
While is it not unusual for universities to have their own museums to display artefacts from their collections, it certainly says something about Eton that what is essentially a high school is able to maintain a museum with a collection of such a high standard.
What to see at the Eton Museum of Antiquities
The museum’s collection covers a wide geographical and chronological period with artefacts from around the world. A large part of the collection is centred on a bequest of Egyptian artefacts from Major William Joseph Myers, but there are also artefacts from Sir Leonard Woolley’s excavations at Al-Mina and two Gandharan statues donated by the widow of Lord Roberts of Kandahar.
It is essentially just a single room so it won’t take long to visit and it has been described as being like a snapshot of the British Museum.
Visiting the Eton Museum of Antiquities
The museum is located on South Meadow Lane, which is a 10-minute walk from the centre of Eton and 15 minutes from central Windsor.
Admission is free and it is only open on Sunday afternoons, 2.30pm–5pm.
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