Beard get involved with Oxford Open Doors

Saturday September 10th saw the fourth year of Oxford Open Doors. As part of the event, Beard agreed to open the Egypt galleries of the Ashmolean Museum to the public, although they were still a construction site.

Three hundred people visited the galleries, and were shown around by Steve Lambourne, Project Manager, and Lucie Elliott, Business Development Manager.  Guided tours were also given by Ashmolean staff including Henry Kim, Deputy Director of The Ashmolean.  Visitors were either informed about the technical aspects of the build or the upcoming Egyptian artefacts, depending on whether a Beard member of staff or Museum member gave the tour!

The first gallery that visitors entered was originally the museum shop, this shop was relocated to the basement as the first phase of the project. The second gallery contained the 2700 year old Shrine of Tahaarqa, which was a highlight of the tour, this ancient shrine was protected from noise, dust and vibration by a suspended protection case, because it was too fragile to be removed before the works

A large glass ceiling above the shrine was discovered with a thick black coat of paint on, the paint took five weeks to painstakingly remove.  Lighting to emulate natural light will be installed above the glass tiles along with blue lights for night time openings at the museum

Visitors saw a glimpse of the new empty show cases, which are highly specified to include LED lighting, humidity controllers, and temperature monitors, these were transported from Belgium and installed by the specialist manufacturer. 

This sneak preview precedes the opening day of November 26th 2011 – all visitors are welcome.