Nicholson Museum

The Nicholson Museum was an archaeological museum at the University of Sydney, located in the main quadrangle of the University in Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1860, it housed the Nicholson Collection, the largest collection of antiquities in both Australia and the Southern Hemisphere. The museum closed permanently on 28 February 2020, and its holdings were transferred to the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, which opened in November 2020. The collection spanned the ancient world with primary strengths in ancient Egypt, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, and the Near East.

The museum was founded in 1860 by Sir Charles Nicholson, who served as Chancellor of the University of Sydney from 1854 to 1862. Between 1856 and 1857, Nicholson traveled through Egypt and Italy, acquiring approximately one thousand ancient Egyptian, Greek, South Italian, and Etruscan artefacts, which he donated to the University in 1860 to form the founding collection. The institution was originally known as the Museum of Antiquities. The collection grew exponentially through individual benefaction, donations, sponsored archaeological projects, and curatorial acquisition. In 2003, the Nicholson Museum was united with the Macleay Museum and the University Art Gallery under a single director, David Ellis, to form Sydney University Museums. Michael Turner was appointed Senior Curator in 2005. A catalogue of the museum's holdings was published as early as 1870 by F. Cunninghame & Co.

The Nicholson Collection spanned the ancient world from Europe to Asia, with significant holdings covering Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Egypt, the Near East, and Northern Europe from the Neolithic to Medieval periods. The collection comprised over 30,000 objects. It was expanded through archaeological excavations led by figures including Dame Kathleen Kenyon, Sir Flinders Petrie, and James Stewart. The museum also held a significant historic photograph collection of over 1,350 glass negatives taken by former curator William J. Woodhouse. The collection grew through diverse means: donations, bequests, targeted purchases, exchanges of Indigenous Australian cultural material for Middle Eastern artefacts, and consignments from sponsored excavations.

The Egyptian collection included artefacts from sites such as Abydos, Alexandria, Bubastis, Fayum, Heliopolis, Memphis, Saqqara, and Thebes. A notable piece from the founding donation was a fragment of red granite from Karnak, thought to be from Hatshepsut's obelisk. The Cypriot collection grew from a single 1860 artefact to include complete tomb groups from excavations at Bellapais Vounous, Karmi Palealona, Karmi Lapasta, Nicosia Ayia Paraskevi, Vasilia Kafkallia, Myrtou Stephania, and Myrtou Sphagion. The Greek collection contained over seventy significant artefacts from the founding donation, later expanded by acquisitions from A. D. Trendall and a 1948 donation of hundreds of pottery fragments and votive objects from the Woodhouse family. The Italian collection featured Latin inscriptions, Etruscan funerary urns and bronzes, South Italian vases, Roman lamps, figurines, ceramics, and two life-sized togatus statues. The Middle Eastern collection began with four objects from Ur in 1926 and grew to include over 1,500 artefacts from Dame Kathleen Kenyon's excavations at Jericho, as well as Luristan bronzes and an Assyrian relief from Nineveh.

The Nicholson Museum was located in the University of Sydney Quadrangle on Parramatta Road in Camperdown, New South Wales. The museum occupied space within the main quadrangle of the University, a central and prominent position on the campus. The building formed part of the historic sandstone quadrangle complex that characterizes the University of Sydney's architecture.

The Nicholson Museum was owned by the University of Sydney and was accessible to the public until its permanent closure on 28 February 2020. During its operation, the museum featured a mixture of permanent and temporary exhibition areas. Permanent exhibitions included Egyptians, Gods and Mummies: Travels with Herodotus; Aphrodite's Island: Australian Archaeologists in Cyprus; The Etruscans: A Classical Fantasy; Tombs, Tells and Temples: Excavating the Near East; and a permanent display of artefacts from the Greek and Italian Classical world. Temporary exhibitions included LEGO Pompeii and 50 Objects, 50 Stories. Following closure, the Nicholson Collection was relocated to the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, which opened in November 2020 and now serves as the public repository for these antiquities.