The Pitt Rivers is a fantastic place to visit. I’ve spent hours gazing into the many displays. Most people don’t realise there are drawers underneath the display cabinets that can be opened to see more stuff. The PR is closing from July 2008 until Spring 2009 for a major refurbishment. The Museum of Natural History, which is in the front of the museum, will remain open.

This place is a must if you are staying in Oxford.

This is a real museum as museums should be. Feels Victorian.
Last time I went it was raining and the floor was covered in buckets for the leaks.
Dark and musty it is surely the inspiration for the Weird Museum kids books.
Love the little native mannequin that jiggles and leaps around when you press the foot pedal. Full of quirks and unusual stuff.
LOVE IT!

Very eccentric and fun i think it is one of few museums that children will enjoy as much as the adults do. The best thing is that even if it is not to your liking, it is free!This museum perhaps should not be called a museum because it is very different to most that i have been in. More jumbled and messy then most museums it feels slightly more adventurous!!
For the children and non faint of heart there are shrunken heads! yes - shrunken heads. If that does not make you visit here then i do not know what will! It kind of reminds me of the old travelling circus’ - but without the cruelty. I wont go too in depth as i agree with all the reviews above so i will keep this short and sweet. I will say however that this is perhaps my number one tourist attraction for Oxford, and i have done quite a lot of sight seeing!

I agree with previous reviews - the Pitt Rivers is a real hidden gem, an absolute treasure trove and every time you go you can find something new to marvel at. It's so atmospheric in the gloom - my kids have all loved it.

Highlights for us have to be of course the shrunken heads (I read a while back that they were considering removing them - this would be a tragedy!) Another favourite is the Witch's Bottle which carries an ancient curse and apparently contains the spirit of a witch so no-one has dared open it!

My kids love to open all the drawers full of weird stuff in the ancient cabinets. I'm always surprised by how quiet it is in there - perhaps I've just been lucky, it certainly adds to the spooky feeling of the place.

I agree with everything that Flick has already said except for this museum being best appreciated by adults. It is a wonderful place and children love it. During the holidays and on Sundays the museum organises special events and museum trails especially for children. You can take part in craft activities inspired by the exhibits or borrow backpacks and torches and take part in an educational treasure trail around the museum. The museum is kept dark to protect the exhibits and this adds to the atmosphere but the torches aren't to provide you with light but to act as pointers. They do let you see a bit more detail but they also make it easy for children to point out what they are looking at. Instead of saying “what is that?” and pointing at a display full of hundreds of ear rings, they can shine the beam on the one they are talking about. The torches are such a good idea.

This winter the museum is going to become an even better place to take older children as the film "Golden Compass" adapted from Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials " trilogy is released. The first books are partly based in an alternative Oxford and the Pitt Rivers museum features in at least one of the books. (Ask a child - they'll be able to remember which one).

Along with all the exhibits of toys and charms, jewelery and weapons children love the collecting box. When you put money in the slot the small statues of famous anthropologists all bend forward to see how much money you've put in and sometimes their eyes flash red and a bell sounds. Take lots of small change and you can keep a small child amused for ages.

The recently built extension means there are now such luxuries as toilets and lifts as well as small lecture rooms. The web site has also been updated since I last looked at it. I've just spent far too long playing with it. I was trying to find out the story behind the collection box and instead I found that you can now get a 360 degree pictures of the museum! And, of course, the web site has lots of information about the collections and the special events.

The museum is attached to the Natuaral History Musuem. So if you have one child keen on dinosaurs and one that likes arts and crafts then you can kill two birds with one stone (as long as the bird isn't one of the swifts that nest each year in the tower - and are appear on a TV near the entrance of the Natural History Museum)

The Pitt Rivers museum is one of my favourite places in Oxford. You could spend a week in there and not see everything. It's hidden at the back of the Natural History museum, which adds a bit of excitement and adventure in trying to find it. It's also free, so you can spend however long you like in there and return time and time again. Unlike the colourful, interactive and all too often dumbed-down museums of today's world, this is dark, jumbled and very exciting. It's a great place to bring children, becuase they can explore things at their own speed, in whatever order they want, giving them the freedom to learn. The museum staff provide torches for young adventurers. However, this musem is probably best appreciated by adults. It's not in any particular order, although items are vaguely categorised, but there is so much to see, it is literally a treasure trove of funky artefacts. There are fabrics hanging up, display stands everywhere, things on the ceiling, a totem pole...you have to see it to believe it. It could be criticised for the rather brief and vague descriptions of some of the items, but this just allows for further use of the imagination, and most things are very well explained. It's loosely an anthropological museum, so has clothing, tools and toys from a huge array of different cultures. My favourite bits are the magic charms, the musical instruments, and, of course, the infamous shrunken heads. Go and loose yourself for a day in there - it really is one of Oxford's greatest hidden gems.