The Fitzwilliam Museum is an art and history museum at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. It is first and foremost a university museum. Therefore, all the exhibits placed in the museum are in one way or another related to the students of the University of Cambridge. The museum has several departments, the most important of which are the Archaeological and Art departments. Exhibits from students’ archaeological expeditions are collected here, as well as paintings by artists who later gained a name and fame.

The museum was founded by Richard VII Viscount Fitzwilliam, who in 1816 bequeathed his art collection and library to the University of Cambridge. He also gave £100,000 to build a museum to house his collection for students to admire. The museum is housed in a beautiful architectural building that was built in 1848 by architect Charles Cockerell.

The museum’s exhibit is broken down by year of creation of the work and by country of origin. Inside the museum, there is a magnificent balcony that can be accessed by a spiral staircase. The balcony also houses a display of paintings. The museum has works by Rubens, Renoir, Picasso, Claude Monet and many other prominent artists, magnificent sculptures, a collection of Medieval and Renaissance art, Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities. The museum also has an unusual display of cold steel weapons from the Middle Ages and modern times: blades and sabers as big as a man.

For more than 200 years, the museum has been enriched by gifts and donations from University alumni, private collectors and the National Endowment for the Arts of Great Britain.