University says cabinets with 'low' value must be replaced at top city museum

Planning documents show the university held a meeting with Historic England and Oxford City Council in August to show the impact new glass cases might have at the Museum of Natural History.

The university said some of the cases are warped, are difficult to open and close and that it is difficult to keep pests out of them.

It said work had shown that their historic value to the museum is ‘low’.

But in April, architect Birkin Haward said the change would ‘affect a critical element of the design of this wonderful building and as a consequence totally alter one’s perception and enjoyment of the interior forever.’

The university remains convinced the current cases must be removed and replaced with alternatives. The cases contain some of the museum’s treasures, including fossils and the most complete remains of a dodo in the world.

It must apply to the city council for permission because of the cases’ prominence in the Grade I listed museum, in Parks Road.

Earlier this year, Peter Howell, secretary of the Victorian Group of the Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society, said the architectural and historical value of the cases was ‘inestimable’.

He added: "The argument in the application that 'the fact that they evoke a sense of history is fortuitous rather than designed' is utterly absurd.

The university states in a report sent to be read as additional information in its listed building consent application: “The cabinets make a small positive contribution to the historic value of the building as a whole.

“The cabinets are not particularly fine examples of their type, having been considerably altered over the years by successive schemes of improvement, for example the current tops and corner decoration were added in 2001.

The museum’s collection is valued at about £7m and more than 750,000 people visit every year.

The city council is expected to make a decision on the listed building consent over the coming months.