The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. © Pitt Rivers Museum

The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford has announced it will temporarily close from July 7 2008 to allow the start of the second phase of a development programme to improve its public and educational facilities.

Work will be undertaken on a number of areas affecting access and display and museum bosses have promised the changes will enhance the special atmosphere of the museum - famous for its multitude of display cases and fascinating exhibits. It is anticipated the Pitt Rivers galleries will re-open in early Spring 2009.

One of the first areas to be tackled will be the 1960s exhibition gallery at the museum’s entrance, which will be dismantled, restoring the original view through to the museum’s spectacular totem pole on the far wall.

Display cases displaced since the 1960s will be returned to their proper location at the front of the museum with the space upstairs vacated by them converted for in-gallery education, encouraging learning amid the displays for groups of all ages.

Other improvements will include a new entrance platform, redesigned shop and reception, more display cases and an environmental control system to help preserve the museum’s collections for the future.

The Totem Pole at the Pitt Rivers Museum Creative Commons 2.5 license

Funding for the changes has come from the Heritage Lottery Fund who awarded £1 million towards the £1 ½ million pound project, which is also supported by the Clore Duffield Foundation and other generous public and private donors.

“This project will restore and greatly enhance the museum’s entrance," said Michael O’Hanlon, the museum’s Director. "We are deeply grateful to the funding bodies and generous individuals who have supported it."

"We regret the inconvenience the temporary closure will cause any of the 200,000 visitors we receive annually. However, the museum will re-open in 2009, with its entrance greatly improved and the museum’s distinctive displays and treasured period atmosphere untouched.”

The museum was founded in 1884 by General Augustus Pitt Rivers, who donated his collection to the University of Oxford. Today it still boasts an incredibly high density of objects on display with some extraordinary items from the vast archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford.

The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, in front of the Pitt Rivers Museum, will remain open to the public as usual.