Fitzwilliam Museum

About

The Fitzwilliam Museum owes its founding to Richard Fitzwilliam, 7th Viscount Fitzwilliam (1745–1816), who in 1816 bequeathed his art collection, library, and a fortune of £100,000 to the University of Cambridge. Architect George Basevi won the design competition in 1834 but died in 1845 before the building was finished; Charles Robert Cockerell completed the work, and the museum opened in 1848, thirty-two years after Fitzwilliam's bequest. A Palladian entrance hall designed by Edward Middleton Barry was added in 1875, and a further extension, partly funded by the Courtauld family, followed in 1931. The collection includes paintings by Monet, Picasso, Rubens, van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Cézanne, alongside Egyptian antiquities, Renaissance paintings, manuscripts, and coins and medals. Admission is always free.