C.R. Cockerell's Ashmolean Museum of 1845 has a pedimented central bay with projecting wings. The architectural detail - in two colours of stone, used very prettily - draws on his archaeological work in Greece. It is a fine thing: less dour than Smirke's earlier British Museum, less grandiloquent and more thought through than Basevi's later Fitzwilliam Museum. In the planning of the new works that have doubled the museum's display space Cockerell's building has been treated respectfully; nothing of what the £61 million was spent on shows until, as you approach the main entrance, you realise that there is a new, glass, inner wall. The majestic doors can now stand open in any weather.

LRB 17 December 2009 | PDF Download