Shields, Spears and Samurai mark gallery’s re-opening

The Upper Gallery of Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum will once again be open to visitors from 1 May, making it the last area of the Museum to reopen after the recent £1.5m Heritage Lottery Fund redevelopment. The principal new feature in the reopened gallery is an extensive firearms display, reuniting this important part of the Museum's collection with the existing arms and armour displays. The previous firearms display on the ground floor was dismantled as part of the redevelopment programme in 2009. The new display is wide-ranging, charting the development of firearms from fifteenth century hand-cannons to modern automatic assault weapons, exploring their use in battle, policing and self-defence, as well as for hunting and sport. It also highlights the different way firearms have developed in cultures across the world. Visitors can still view the Upper Gallery's old favourites, including the Japanese suit of armour, the displays of traps, nets and fish hooks, bows and arrows, swords, shields and many other examples of functional and ceremonial weaponry. With all three floors of the Museum once more open to the public, visitors will be able to see how the Museum has retained its distinctive period atmosphere and artefact-rich displays, whilst upgrading its facilities to meet twenty-first century needs.