Plan your visit

Plan your visit

You can visit our online collections and tours 7 days a week.

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Museum Guide

For a simple overview of the Collections on each floor, it's worth downloading the Museum Guide.

If you only have a few minutes to explore, take a look at the Highlight Objects on each floor before taking the Virtual Tour.

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Meet Stephen, your Pocket Curator

You can carry around our Curator, Stephen, on your phone or tablet.

Just download the Pocket Curator app, put your headphones on and relax while Stephen tells you the human stories behind seven objects.

Watch videos and animations — and try the instruments out for yourself.

Take a Virtual Museum Tour

Take a look at our 360-degree virtual tour — you can:

leap 3 floors in a single click: move directly to any Gallery, floor or staircase
satisfy your curiosity: zoom in and out to take a closer look at your favourite objects
browse at your leisure: take as much time as you want — our Virtual Museum is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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Entrance Gallery

The Entrance Gallery houses the reception and shop, and items relating to:

the history of the Museum
the Founding Collections
19th-century collections from the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Microscopical Society.

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Basement Galleries

The main Basement Gallery displays:

chemical, physical and medical items
Einstein’s blackboard
Marconi's wireless collection.

The basement also holds the Special Exhibition Gallery, where we usually hold two temporary exhibitions each year.

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Top Gallery

Explore:

mathematical instruments from different time periods
the Museum’s world-class collection of Islamic scientific instruments.

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Where to find us

We're based in the centre of Oxford on Broad Street, next to the Sheldonian Theatre.

Travelling by train or bus: It's a 15-minute walk from the train station and we're just under 10 minutes from the bus station.

Travelling by road: Take a look at the parking information beneath the map.

Find us

History of Science Museum
Broad Street
Oxford
OX1 3AZ

Contact us

+44 1865 277 293
info@hsm.ox.ac.uk

(Click the map above for a larger version.)

Travelling by car

Park and Ride

Car and Coach parks

Visitors with special needs

Daytime parking in central Oxford is limited.

If you're visiting us from outside the City, our Council encourages you to use one of the five Park & Ride services.

There’s one located at each of the main roads into the City and they run frequent bus services into the City Centre.

The main car park and coach park for the City is on Oxpens Road — check the Oxford City Council website for details of all city-centre parking.

Coaches are able to drop off and pick up in Broad Street; we advise groups travelling in a minibus to use the Park & Ride.

For cars, there is pay-and-display parking close to the Museum in Broad Street, Mansfield Road and Blackhall Road.

Take a look at the Oxfordshire County Council website to find out about on-street parking in Oxford.

If you have special needs — or you are a carer for a visitor with additional needs — take a look at our Access Guide to the Museum.

There are also Access Guides to all the University Galleries, Libraries and Museums on the University website.

We’re here to help, so do get in touch with us if you need more information before planning your visit:

Email: info@hsm.ox.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1865 277293

Visiting as a group?

Planning on visiting the Museum in a group once we re-open? Please book in advance!

Plan your visit

Plan your visit

Temporary closure

Visit us online

Explore the Museum

Museum Guide

Meet Stephen, your Pocket Curator

Take a Virtual Museum Tour

Our Galleries

Entrance Gallery

Basement Galleries

Top Gallery

Families, adults and young people

Families

Adults and young people

How to get here

Travelling by car

Visiting as a group?

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The History of Science Museum is currently closed.