Museum sold to the city in 1661 and public since 1671 (now Kunstmuseum Basel). The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford opened on 24 May 1683 as the world's first university art museum. Its first building was built in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities Elias Ashmole gave Oxford University in 1677. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence was initially conceived as offices for the Florentine civil service (hence the name), but evolved into a display place for many of the paintings and sculpture collected by the Medici family or commissioned by them. After the house of Medici was extinguished, the art treasures
The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford is the principal art gallery and museum in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, run by Bedford Borough Council and the Trustees of the Cecil Higgins Collection. The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum is situated in the Castle Quarter which occupies the site of Bedford Castle to the east of the High Street on the north side of the River Great Ouse Embankment. The quarter includes the Castle Bailey gardens, the Castle Quay development of flats, restaurants and shops, the Castle Mound, the John Bunyan Museum and the Art Gallery