Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library

<h2 id="history">History</h2>
<p>The library building was completed in 2001 and opened on 24 September of that year, enabling the rehousing of the library of the <a href="/facts/Ashmolean_Museum/zRl83sQY">Ashmolean Museum</a>. The library entrance is at 1 <a href="/facts/St_John_Street%2c_Oxford/H8NgpPxL">St John Street</a>. It was principally funded by a donation from the multi-millionaire <a href="/facts/Mortimer_Sackler/kyn6QYRC">Mortimer Sackler</a>. It was designed by <a href="/facts/Robert_Adam_(architect%2c_born_1948)/sowDnpXx">Robert Adam</a> with Paul Hanvey of <a href="/facts/ADAM_Architecture/rfLtu3NN">ADAM Architecture</a>. Its main building is a circular drum, a reference to the <a href="/facts/Classics/CXF1ltbH">Classical</a> origins of many of its holdings. One of the outer walls of the drum is decorated by a Classical frieze. The architects claim the circular entrance vestibule is derived from the <a href="/facts/Doric_order/oDLVobAY">Doric</a> <a href="/facts/Bassae/5S7Fyc7J">Temple of Apollo at Bassae</a>, first excavated by <a href="/facts/Charles_Robert_Cockerell/5JFaa6Hz">Charles Robert Cockerell</a>, the architect who designed the adjacent <a href="/facts/Ashmolean_Museum/zRl83sQY">Ashmolean Museum</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> The library is administered as part of the multi-site <a href="/facts/Bodleian_Library/wxknaMJk">Bodleian Library</a>, the central libraries of the <a href="/facts/University_of_Oxford/ExVVQL6V">University of Oxford</a>
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<h2 id="renaming">Renaming</h2>
<p class="note">See also: <a href="/facts/List_of_things_named_after_the_Sackler_family/5VN2RNK9">List of things named after the Sackler family</a></p>
<p>The library was originally named for the <a href="/facts/Sackler_family/m1jked9F">Sackler family</a>, whose funding of the arts became controversial in the context of the <a href="/facts/Opioid_epidemic/YLvVEDTs">opioid epidemic</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> It was renamed the Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library at a meeting of the University Council on 15 May 2023, following a review of the university's relationship with the family.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>
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<h2 id="collections">Collections</h2>
<p>The library's holdings incorporate the collections of four older <a href="/facts/Library/hvdQNTtS">libraries</a>, namely the <a href="/facts/Ashmolean/zRl83sQY">Ashmolean</a> library, the Classics Lending Library, the Eastern Art Library, the <a href="/facts/Griffith_Institute/6mfN9GAz">Griffith Institute</a> and the History of Art Library. Major subject areas are:
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<ul><li>Western European Art since c. AD 1000</li>
<li><a href="/facts/History_of_Art/D1l0JffP">History of Art</a></li>
<li>Classical and Byzantine art and archaeology</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Papyrology/oAsACjJt">Papyrology</a> and Greco-Roman Egypt</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Near_East/gD1vyGQI">Near Eastern</a> <a href="/facts/Archaeology/K3Q5P38R">archaeology</a> and <a href="/facts/Cuneiform/MgIQoGu8">cuneiform</a> languages</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Egyptology/juVkduLw">Egyptology</a> and <a href="/facts/Coptic_language/EzDloWDH">Coptic</a></li>
<li>Ancient history</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Epigraphy/E9UbNeDh">Epigraphy</a></li>
<li>Classical languages and literature</li>
<li>Prehistoric archaeology of Europe and North Africa</li>
<li>Archaeology of Roman provinces</li>
<li>Medieval European archaeology</li>
<li>Theoretical and scientific archaeology</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Numismatics/gJDe3Lr5">Numismatics</a></li></ul>

<p>Among the celebrated holdings are the <a href="/facts/Heracles_Papyrus/jocS6o8Y">Heracles Papyrus</a>, a fragment of 3rd century Greek manuscript containing a poem about the Labours of <a href="/facts/Heracles/CIQWycTu">Heracles</a>, along with over 100,000 fragments found at <a href="/facts/Oxyrhynchus/k5L9VJNm">Oxyrhynchus</a> known as the <a href="/facts/Oxyrhynchus_Papyri/rrHRAYuq">Oxyrhynchus Papyri</a>.
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<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li>Category:Sackler library manuscripts</li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/art">Official website</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Robert Adam Archived 2010-07-29 at the Wayback Machine <a href="http://www.adamarchitecture.com/public_buildings/Sackler-Library.htm" target="_blank">http://www.adamarchitecture.com/public_buildings/Sackler-Library.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Moody, Michael; Pratt, Michael (2023). "Tainted money and tainted donors". In Breeze, Beth; Day Lafferty, Donna; Wiepking, Pamala (eds.). The fundraising reader. London: Routledge. pp. 361–364. doi:10.4324/9781003145936-76. ISBN 9780367703714. <a href="9780367703714" target="_blank">9780367703714</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"Sackler: relationship review". University of Oxford. 15 May 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2023. <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/news/2023-05-15-sackler-relationship-review" target="_blank">https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/news/2023-05-15-sackler-relationship-review</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
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Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library open-in-new

Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library