The Sackler Library holds a large portion of the classical, art historical, and

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

works belonging to the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

History

The Sackler Library building was completed in 2001 and opened on 24 September of that year, enabling the rehousing of the library of the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University o ...

. The library entrance is at 1 St John Street. It was principally funded by a donation from the multi-millionaire

Mortimer Sackler Mortimer David Sackler (December 7, 1916 – March 24, 2010) was an American-born British psychiatrist and entrepreneur who was a co-owner, with his brother Raymond, of Purdue Pharma. During his lifetime, Sackler's philanthropy included donati ...

. It was designed by

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...

with Paul Hanvey of ADAM Architecture. Its main building is a circular drum, a reference to the Classical 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

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

Temple of Apollo at Bassae, first excavated by

Charles Robert Cockerell Charles Robert Cockerell (27 April 1788 – 17 September 1863) was an English architect, archaeologist, and writer. He studied architecture under Robert Smirke. He went on an extended Grand Tour lasting seven years, mainly spent in Greece. ...

, the architect who designed the adjacent

. The Sackler library is administered as part of the multi-site

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...

, the central libraries of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

Controversy

It is a controversial building (like many associated with the university) as the wealth of the eponymous funders, the Sackler family, was raised in large part from marketing Oxycontin, leading to the US opioid crisis, which has killed hundreds of thousands in the US alone. In 2018, the university said that “ ewould consider any public controversy surrounding a donor ndmay reconsider a donor in the light of new information. At present, there is no intention to reconsider the Sackler family and trusts.”

Collections

Its holdings incorporate the collections of four older

libraries A library is a collection of Document, materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or electronic media, digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...

, namely the Ashmolean library, the Classics Lending Library, the Eastern Art Library, the

Griffith Institute The Griffith Institute is an Egyptological institution based in the Griffith Wing of the Sackler Library and is part of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, England. It was founded for the advancement of Egyptology and Ancient N ...

and the History of Art Library. Major subject areas are: * Western European Art since c. AD 1000 *

History of Art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetics, ae ...

* Classical and Byzantine art and archaeology * Papyrology and Greco-Roman Egypt *

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

ern

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...

and

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge- ...

languages *

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native relig ...

and Coptic * Ancient history *

Epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the w ...

* Classical languages and literature * Prehistoric archaeology of Europe and North Africa * Archaeology of Roman provinces * Medieval European archaeology * Theoretical and scientific archaeology *

Numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inc ...

Among the celebrated holdings are the Heracles Papyrus, a fragment of 3rd century Greek manuscript containing a poem about the Labours of

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...

, along with over 100,000 fragments found at

Oxyrhynchus Oxyrhynchus (; grc-gre, Ὀξύρρυγχος, Oxýrrhynchos, sharp-nosed; ancient Egyptian ''Pr-Medjed''; cop, or , ''Pemdje''; ar, البهنسا, ''Al-Bahnasa'') is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south-southwest of Cai ...

known as the

Oxyrhynchus Papyri The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt (, moder ...

References

External links

Sackler Library website
{{coord, 51, 45, 20, N, 1, 15, 40, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Libraries of the University of Oxford Library buildings completed in 2001 Deposit libraries 2001 establishments in England Sackler family New Classical architecture

History

Controversy

Collections

See also

References

External links